Rafael Nadal feels 'terrible' for Naomi Osaka but says heckling 'happens' after Indian Wells incident

Rafael Nadal says that while the kind of heckling Naomi Osaka was subjected to at Indian Wells should never happen, elite-level athletes should be “prepared” to deal with it. A spectator shouted “Naomi, you suck” at her on Saturday during her straight sets defeat against Veronika Kudermetova. It left the four-time Grand Slam champion visibly upset.

Ad/> Osaka requested to address the fan using the umpire’s microphone – a request which was denied – but in her post-match interview referenced a video of abuse being aimed at Serena and Venus Williams at the same tournament in 2001 as a reason for the heckling affecting her. ATP Indian WellsNadal beats Evans to extend winning run to 17 matches11 HOURS AGO “To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before. It didn’t really bother me, but it’s like, heckled here,” she said.

«I’ve 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.” And after his defeat against Alexander Bublik, Andy Murray said that he sympathised with Osaka, but suggested players must be prepared for heckling. It was a sentiment that Nadal seemed to echo in his post-match press conference after he beat Dan Evans 7-5 6-3.

»These kind of questions are tough to answer because, in some way… I mean, the easy answer for me is I feel terrible about what happened," began Nadal. Nadal beats Evans to extend winning run to 17 matches Masters 1000 events in 2022: All you need to know However, the 21-time Grand Slam champion added, «in the real world», heckling from spectators happens. «That never should happen.