Naomi Osaka posts defiant message after Indian Wells heckle

Naomi Osaka has posted a defiant message after she was heckled last week at Indian Wells.

The tennis star was reduced to tears as she was heckled during a 6-0 6-4 defeat 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”.

A visibly upset Osaka complained to the umpire about the comment, with the incident likely a factor in her loss.

She has since posted a defiant comment on Twitter, writing: “Very proud of myself for reaching a point in my life that despite the lows, I would still rather be myself than anyone else.”

After her defeat, Osaka decided to stay on court after the match and be interviewed, taking the chance to explain why she was so distressed by the heckler.

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

Very proud of myself for reaching a point in my life that despite the lows, I would still rather be myself than anyone else.

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.

The 24-year-old returned to the court at the start of the year after a four-month break from tennis due to mental health issues.

Her second round exit at Indian Wells was the earliest she had been knocked out of a tournament since her return.

Osaka triumphed in her first three matches of 2022, dropping just one set while playing at the Melbourne Summer