Australian Open champion Rafa Nadal said he felt sorry for Naomi Osaka after she was rattled by a heckler during her second-round loss on Saturday night at Indian Wells, but added that tennis players needed to be ready to deal with adversities.
Osaka, who sparked a conversation about mental health in sports last year with her withdrawal from the French Open, was thrown off her game and began to cry after a person screamed, "Naomi, you suck!" early on in her 6-0, 6-4 loss to Veronika Kudermetova.
After the match, Osaka spoke directly to the otherwise supportive crowd, saying the incident reminded her of the abuse Venus and Serena Williams received at the tournament in 2001, which led them to boycott the event for more than a decade.
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