Naomi Osaka speaks out on heckling incident for first time as she claims Miami Open win

Naomi Osaka has spoken out on her heckling ordeal for the first time since crashing out of Indian Wells. The four-time Major champion was left fighting back tears in her 6-0 6-4 loss to Verokina Kudermetova in the second-round last week as she explained the incident reminded her of the infamous booing the Williams sisters received in 2001. Osaka played her first match since the heckling at the Miami Open on Wednesday and beat Astra Sharma 6-3 6-4.

Osaka had not played since her early exit from the Australian Open until Indian Wells. Having dropped outside the world's top 80, she scored an impressive win over 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the first round and was well up for the challenge of facing the 21st seed but early in the match was distracted by a heckler calling out: "Naomi, you suck."

The former world No 1 was left in tears, speaking to the official about the incident, but was unable to gather herself and lost 6-0 6-4. After the match, she addressed the crowd and said the heckling had made her think of the infamous booing Serena, Venus and Richard Williams were subject to in Indian Wells back in 2001 which led the sisters to boycott the tournament until 2015.

She has now returned at the Miami Open and gotten off to a positive start, defeating Sharma 6-3 6-4 in 81 minutes as she received a warm reception with the crowd chanting: "Naomi, we love you!" Osaka then hinted at the Indian Wells incident in her on-court interview as the welcomed the support from the crowd.

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The current world No 77 then elaborated on the heckling in her post-match press-conference and explained why the comment threw her at the time. "I feel better