SHAME ON YOU

Naomi Osaka Chokes Up After Spectator Taunts Her at Tournament

Osaka said the incident reminded her of the Williams sisters getting booed at the same event in 2001.

Naomi Osaka was viciously heckled at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open tournament in Indian Wells, California, Saturday, causing her to tearfully address the crowd months after a string of defeats and a public battle with her mental health. The heckler shouted “Naomi, you suck!” at the tennis star, which she said got in her head before she was knocked out of the second round. She told the crowd that the jeers reminded her of the Williams sisters being booed at the 2001 tournament in Indian Wells. “To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before, and it didn’t really bother me,” Osaka said, according to The New York Times. “But, like, heckled here? I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it.” Osaka skipped her post-game press conference, telling the crowd before she left that, “I’ve cried enough on camera.” Osaka fell from No. 1 to No. 78 recently as she’s faced multiple struggles with her mental health over the last year.