Indian Wells – Tennis star Naomi Osaka tears up during her second round match at the WTA tournament in Indian Wells.
The trigger was apparently a heckle from the audience. It was initially unclear what was shouted. After her 0-6, 4-6 loss to Russian Veronika Kudermetova, the Japanese player stood at the court microphone and, again fighting tears, reported that earlier heckling had not bothered her. “But here?” she asked, sobbing as she recounted that the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus Williams, had endured shouting matches at Indian Wells and that one should watch the video of it. “I don’t know why, but it’s in my head and it’s been replayed there a lot,” she said.
Osaka is black, as are the US’s Venus and Serena Williams. Whether the call from the stands was related to Osaka’s skin colour was not clear during her short speech. She thanked the spectators who were still in the stadium several times.
Osaka had earlier sought to talk to the chair umpire in the first set of her match shortly after the incident. Even then, it seemed as if the former number one in the tennis world rankings wanted a microphone. Subsequently, a WTA official spoke for a long time with the Japanese player, who repeatedly put her head back and had moist eyes.