Yes, fans heckling athletes is seemingly part of the territory for sports’ biggest stars. But what happened to naomiosaka at Indian Wells leads jon_wertheim to ask if she needs more time away to find answers for herself
Let’s start with a story. It takes place in Indian Wells, Calif., at the BNP Paribas Open. Naomi Osaka was on one side of the net. A heckler was in the stands, letting her have it. And Osaka was visibly upset.
Osaka was rattled. She cast a downbeat look and began to tear up. Her coach at the time, Sascha Bajin, asked the fan to stop. Taking advantage of the WTA’s rules that permit coaching during matches at events other than the majors, Bajin came onto the court and calmed Osaka down. She would win the match. And the tournament. And the U.S. Open six months later, her breakthrough.
“To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before, and it didn’t really bother me,” Osaka said. “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. And I don’t know why, but it went into my head and it got replayed a lot. I feel like I’ve cried enough on camera.”
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