INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Naomi Osaka, preventing by means of tears on court docket after being heckled by a spectator, was knocked out of the BNP Paribas Open within the second spherical on Saturday 6-0, 6-4 by the No. 21 seed, Veronika Kudermetova.
Osaka, the Japanese famous person who has struggled along with her psychological well being and with ambivalence towards skilled tennis, spoke to the group instantly at her request after the defeat.
Combating for composure, Osaka defined that the heckler, who shouted, “Naomi, you suck!” after the opening sport, had made her flash again to footage she had seen of Venus and Serena Williams being booed and jeered at Indian Wells in the course of the occasion in 2001.
“To be sincere, I’ve gotten heckled earlier than, and it didn’t actually hassle me,” Osaka mentioned. “However, like, heckled right here? I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled right here, and if you happen to’ve by no means watched it, it is best to watch it.
“And I don’t know why, but it surely went into my head, and it obtained replayed so much,” she continued, apparently referring to Saturday’s match.
Osaka then thanked the group and left the court docket, carrying her tennis bag.
After the 2001 episodes, the Williams sisters didn’t return to the match in Indian Wells for greater than a decade, with Serena coming again in 2015 and Venus in 2016. Serena, now 40, and Venus, now 41, are nonetheless energetic gamers however not taking part within the occasion this yr.
In 2001, in the course of the Williams sisters’ early years as professionals, there was hypothesis on tour that their father and co-coach, Richard Williams, was prearranging the outcomes of their matches towards one another.
The Russian participant Elena Dementieva spoke about her doubts publicly at that yr’s match after dropping to Venus Williams within the quarterfinals. When Venus withdrew from the semifinal towards Serena solely minutes earlier than it was to start, citing tendinitis in her proper knee, the group in Indian Wells responded skeptically by booing. Dementieva later insisted that she had been joking, and the sisters and Richard Williams have denied that any of their matches had been prearranged.
Two days later, when Serena performed Kim Clijsters within the ultimate, Serena was booed all through the match, and Richard Williams, who was watching from the stands with Venus, mentioned he was subjected to a number of racial slurs.
Serena Williams received the match however has mentioned that the expertise was traumatic and “haunted” her and her household for a few years.
The circumstances on Saturday appeared vastly totally different. Osaka definitely had ample assist from the overwhelming majority of the group. There have been a number of thousand followers scattered all through the stands within the 16,000-seat foremost stadium on a cold night, and after the heckler’s insult, there have been loud cheers for Osaka’s few winners within the opening set and extra assist for her down the stretch as she raised her sport.
Osaka was unseeded this yr in Indian Wells, the place she made her first main breakthrough by profitable the match as an unseeded participant in 2018.
This yr, after defeating the previous U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens in three units within the first spherical on Thursday, she confronted one other robust take a look at in Kudermetova, a robust Russian on the rise.
Kudermetova broke Osaka’s serve within the opening sport, and the spectator’s shout got here as Osaka ready to return serve. She approached the chair umpire, Paula Vieira Souza, and appeared to inquire about having the spectator ejected, however Souza politely demurred.
Kudermetova held serve, and Osaka started to tear up as she ready to serve the following sport. After she was damaged once more, Osaka had one other prolonged dialog with Souza and requested if she might use the microphone to handle the group instantly.
Souza declined, and the WTA Tour supervisor Clare Wooden was known as to the court docket and mentioned the matter with Osaka because the participant sat on her chair.
When play resumed, Osaka continued to battle to search out her vary and misplaced the set at love. Wooden spoke with Osaka once more earlier than the beginning of the second set, which was way more aggressive from the beginning. However Kudermetova broke Osaka’s serve within the seventh sport and went on to shut out the victory.