“Chair umpire had no authority to remove him”- Tara Moore recalls her being heckled at Wimbledon amidst Naomi Osaka incident

Naomi Osaka and Tara Moore

British tennis star, Tara Moore recalled the time she was heckled during a match following Naomi Osaka’s incident at the Indian Wells. Osaka was reduced to tears after a spectator heckled at her during her second-round exit from the Indian Wells. The spectator who hurled “Naomi, you suck” faced a wave of boos from the crowd following the incident. Osaka was clearly rattled by the incident as she went to lose 6-0, 6-4 to Veronika Kudermetova.

Shortly after the incident, Osaka halted play to ask the chair umpire to intervene and give the mic to her so she could address the crowd. The umpires sought advice from the supervisor, who eventually denied it. Perturbed the comments, Osaka broke down during the changeover but then composed herself to make a comeback in the second set, but it wasn’t enough as Kudermetova maintained her composure to clinch the match in straight sets.

Osaka had skipped most of her 2021 season after she struggled with depression and just made a return to the tennis courts. The Indian Wells was only her third tournament of the year. After her loss, Osaka addressed the crowd saying the heckling reminded her of the abuse Serena and Venus Williams faced two decades earlier.

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Tara Moore recalls the time she was heckled by a spectator

British tennis player, Tara Moore, drew a comparison with the Osaka incident and relayed her own story when she was subjected to verbal abuse while she was competing at Wimbledon in 2013. Moore, who is now the British No.1 in women’s doubles, remarked how the spectator was not removed after the outburst and said the umpire also refused to intervene as he has no authority over such circumstances. Moore stressed how the umpire proclaimed he isn’t under a position to remove the person despite the continuous heckling, drawing parallels with how Osaka was denied to address the heckler during her match as well.

Once at Wimby, a guy who was incredibly intoxicated kept screaming at me saying “GSM (my opp last name) you chi*ky b*tch” every time I was about to serve I asked the ump to get him removed but she said he’s part of the debenture tickets so she had no authority to remove him https://t.co/RRsxmWpvI1
— Tara Moore (@TaraMoore92) March 13, 2022

While there are no stringent rules against fans’ unruly behavior, it is part of unofficial rules of decorum that have been preserved over the years. And as such the Indian Wells is no stranger to such incidents. Serena and Venus were subject to racial slurs and heckled during the finals in 2001 after they were accused of faking an injury and orchestrating it so that Serena could have a clear path to the title. The abuse they faced was such that both Serena and Venus vowed to never return to the tournament. They boycotted it for 15 years before making a comeback in 2016.