“Be able to tolerate it” A sympathetic Andy Murray advises Naomi Osaka to toughen up after she was heckled at the Indian Wells
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Andy Murray and Naomi Osaka
In an unfortunate event at the ongoing 2022 Indian Wells Open, former champion Naomi Osaka was heckled by the crowd during her match that saw the Japanese superstar break down in tears amidst the match. Playing against Veronika Kudermetova, Naomi lost the match 0-6, 4-6 but despite the good tennis played by the players, the heckling incident overshadowed the sport.
“Naomi you s**k,” was the phrase directed at the 4-time Grand Slam champion. While Naomi tried to hide her emotions and put on a strong face, she eventually broke down and had to be consoled by the officials on the court as the player hid her face in her towel trying to control her tears.
Speaking about the ugly incident, former World No. 1 Andy Murray gave his opinion about the whole incident that brought shame to the sport. The Brit despite having sympathy for Naomi, spoke about how heckling has become a regular thing in the sport and there is nothing one can do but to make themselves stronger to battle this.
“It’s a difficult one. I’ve often thought watching certain sports, I wouldn’t say I’ve often seen it loads in tennis, but if I watch a football or a soccer match and a player’s going to take a throw-in or a corner kick and the crowd are just hurling insults at those individuals. I always think, how is that allowed? Like, you can’t do that,”
“Obviously I feel for Naomi, that it upset her a lot but yeah, it’s always been something that’s been part of the sport, I guess. So, you know, you have to, I guess, be prepared for that in some ways and be able to tolerate it because it does happen regularly across all sports,” said Murray after his first-round win over Taro Daniel before being defeated by Alexander Bublik in the second round.
Naomi Osaka brings back the Williams Family incident at the Indian Wells
While the on-court interview is for the winner of the match, Naomi took the opportunity to address the crowd in the stadium and reminded them that it was at the Indian Wells only when Venus and Serena Williams‘ father and coach Richard Williams was racially abused at the 2001 edition of the tournament where Venus reached the semis before withdrawing due to an injury and Serena went on to win the title.
The abuse towards their father saw the two sisters skip the tournament for 14 years when Serena finally returned for the tournament in 2015. Venus ended her boycott in 2016. Bringing the issue up, Naomi highlighted that the crowd was disrespectful towards the players and under no circumstance, this should be done.
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Sarthak Shitole
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