‘Incredibly Intoxicated’ – British Player Opens Up on Being Harassed by the Crowd Following Naomi Osaka’s Heckling Incident at Indian Wells 2022

British tennis star Tara Moore opened up about her heckling incident on a tennis court following the unfortunate situation faced by Naomi Osaka during her second-round match against Veronika Kudermetova at Indian Wells 2022.

Osaka has been under the spotlight ever since she won her first Grand Slam and for good reasons most of the time. The former World No. 1 is not only a powerful and skilled player but is also vocal about pressing issues.

She played a limited schedule in 2021 in order to focus on her mental health. The Japanese star also kick-started a conversation about mental well-being in elite athletes. While she looks like she is having more fun on the court these last few days, she suddenly got overwhelmed when someone in the crowd yelled, ‘‘Naomi, you suck!!’ at Indian Wells event.

Also read: ‘She’s Struggling Psychologically’ – Andy Murray Gets Critical on Naomi Osaka’s Indian Wells Controversy-Says She Wasn’t Able to Handle the Situation

Tara Moore talks about her harassment experience

Osaka tried to talk to the chair umpire to take some sort of action but to no avail. Osaka, who is usually quite calm and composed on the court, seemed to be affected by the incident to a greater degree.

Tara Moore, Britain’s top doubles player also recalled a time when a similar incident happened to her at Wimbledon. She took to Twitter to narrate the incident.

Moore opened up about how an “incredibly intoxicated” person was saying rather mean things every time she would be preparing to serve. Moore, like Osaka, she tried to get the umpire to do something about it. But, she was unsuccessful and the person was allowed to watch the game undisturbed.

Naomi Osaka says she is used to heckling

After her second-round loss to Veronika Kudermetova, Osaka elaborated on how she is used to being heckled but it just got into her head somehow. She also spoke about an incident when Venus and Serena Williams had also been under similar circumstances at the same venue.

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“To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before, it didn’t really bother me… I’ve watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and if you’ve never watched it, you should watch it. I don’t know why, but it went into my head and it got replayed a lot. I’m trying not to cry. I just wanted to say thank you and congratulations.”

Even though it was a painful moment for the four-time Grand Slam champion, let’s hope that this incident won’t stop her from participating in the upcoming Miami Masters.