Naomi Osaka brought to tears on the tennis court by ignorant heckler

Naomi Osaka was left emotional and with tears in her eyes on Sunday while competing at the Indian Wells Masters.

The former world number one - who formally won the tournament back in 2018 - was facing Veronika Kudermetova in her second-round match, when she was interrupted by a heckler in the crowd.

The 24-year-old four-time Grand Slam winner was clearly shaken by the crowd member, who started yelling "Naomi, you suck" at the Japanese tennis ace.

Unfortunately, Osaka went on to lose the match 6-0 6-4 against Kudermetova, and could be seen wiping tears away from her eyes, Sky Sports reports.

The tennis star bravely addressed the crowd following the match, and address why she found the comments so upsetting.

Watch an emotional Osaka address the crowd below:

Holding back tears, Osaka said: "I've been heckled before and it didn't really bother me," before going on to address an infamous incident of sisters Venus and Serena Williams being heckled at the same tournament back in 2001.

She continued: "But being heckled here. I've watched video of Venus and Serena get 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 got replayed a lot."

Per BBC News, the Williams sisters boycotted the Indian Wells tournament for 14 years after that particular incident.

Osaka then thanked and congratulated her opponent before preparing to leave the court. At that moment, the interviewer tells her: "On behalf of everybody here, out of about 10,000 people, one person's voice can't weigh out 9,999 others - and we love you here."

Referring back to the incident Osaka mentioned in her address; in 2001, Venus was forced to pull out of a semi-final match against her sister due to a knee injury.

Footage of the Williams family being jeered can be seen below:

However, when she joined her father to watch Serena's match in the final against Kim Clijsters, both sisters were met with boos throughout the match.

Their father, Richard Williams, later said that he was subjected to racial abuse from crowd members. In 2021, Serena said she was still "traumatized" by the events.

I'm all for a paying member of an audience to express their feelings - but this was a tennis game, not a WWE event. There's really no need for it.

Featured image credit: Sipa US / Alamy