Naomi Osaka explains why Indian Wells heckler left her in tears

Tennis star Naomi Osaka has explained why a heckler at Indian Wells reduced her to tears.

Osaka lost 6-0 6-4 to Veronika Kudermetova in her second round match at the WTA 1000 event.

During the first set, the four-time Grand Slam winner was taunted by a woman in the crowd, who shouted “Naomi, you suck”.

Osaka complained to the umpire about the comment and was visibly upset about the incident, with the star reduced to tears as she went to serve at the start of the third game.

She then decided to stay on court after the match and be interviewed, explaining why she was so distressed by the heckler.

“To be honest, I’ve been heckled before, it doesn’t really bother me,” Osaka said.

“But being heckled here, I watched a video of Venus and Serena [Williams] getting heckled here, if you’ve never watched it you should watch it and I don’t know why, but it got into my head and it got replayed a lot.”

Osaka was referring to events that took place at Indian Wells in 2001, which sparked a 14-year boycott of the tournament by Serena and Venus Williams.

Naomi Osaka asked for the microphone after her loss against Veronika Kudermetova. Here's what she said. pic.twitter.com/0Pj9WnNe4t

At the time, Serena was a 19-year-old emerging talent with a Grand Slam title already to her name. The young star progressed to the semi-finals of Indian Wells, setting up a hotly-anticipated clash with her sister Venus.

Just four minutes before the match began, however, Venus pulled out with a case of tendonitis.

A loud round of boos went round the venue as the crowd heard of the withdrawal, and the saga did not end there.

Following Venus’s withdrawal from the last four, Serena faced Belgian star Kim Clijsters in the Indian Wells final.

Just as the match was