The Japanese had cracked in the middle of the match two days ago, after an insult from a spectator.
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Rafael Nadal on Monday March 14 expressed his empathy for Naomi Osaka, who broke down in the middle of the match in Indian Wells after being insulted by a spectator, while believing that the players should be “prepared” to deal with this type of behavior.
“The easy answer for me would be to say ‘I feel bad about what happened, this should never happen'”, the Spaniard said after his third-round victory over Dan Evans in the California tournament after being asked about the incident on Saturday.
Six months after her tears of distress in front of the press at the US Open, and nine months after her withdrawal from Roland-Garros, where she had refused to answer questions from the media, Naomi Osaka broke down again on Saturday. In the middle of the match, then after her elimination in the second round in Indian Wells, the Japanese cried, hurt by an insult uttered in the public: “Naomi, you suck!”.
Before Nadal, Scotsman Andy Murray had made similar comments after his elimination in Indian Wells on Sunday. “Obviously I’m sorry for Naomi, it’s definitely upset her a lot. But it’s something that’s always been part of the sport. So you have to be ready for it in a certain way, and be able to support it because it happens frequently in all sports”, explained the current world number four.
“I understand that Naomi has suffered a lot from her mental health concerns. All I wish for her is to get over it. (…) But in life, nothing is perfect, right? We must be ready to face adversity”, concluded Rafael Nadal.