Tennis
Players must be ‘prepared’ to deal with insults, says Nadal
(Indian Wells) Rafael Nadal on Monday 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 face to this type of behavior.
“The easy answer for me would be to say ‘I feel bad about what happened, it should never happen’,” the Spaniard said after his 3and round of the Californian tournament against Dan Evans, after being questioned about the events that took place on Saturday.
But, “in the real world”, it happens that spectators launch insults or are hostile, continued the winner of 21 Grand Slam tournaments: “Even if it is terrible to hear, we should be prepared for that, no ? “.
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 a match, then after his elimination at 2and turn in Indian Wells, the Japanese cried, hurt by an insult uttered in the public – “Naomi, you suck! “.
The Japanese could not repress a few tears, after complaining about this behavior to the officials. The player, plagued by frequent anxiety problems, then, completely unexpectedly, agreed to speak on the court after her defeat, a visibly trying exercise for her, which brought new tears to her cheeks. .
“We have to know how to resist this type of problem, which happens when we are in front of an audience,” continued Nadal.
“I understand that Naomi has suffered a lot from her mental health concerns. All I wish for him is to get over it,” he added. “But in life, nothing is perfect, right? We have to be ready to face adversity,” he concluded.
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 clear that it upsets her a lot,” said the former world No.1.
“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 endure it because it happens frequently in all sports, ”he also judged.
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Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.