Andy Murray on Naomi Osaka being heckled at Indian Wells: ‘I feel for her, but you have to be prepared for it’

ByMichael Hincks

Updated 14/03/2022 at 08:42 GMT

A spectator in the Indian Wells crowd yelled “Naomi, you suck”, with Naomi Osaka visibly upset and eager to speak to the fan using the umpire’s microphone – a request which was denied. Speaking after his defeat to Alexander Bublik, Andy Murray spoke of the heckling he has witnessed across a variety of sports, including tennis.

Andy Murray said players must learn to “tolerate” heckling despite questioning why spectators attend events simply to direct abuse at players.

A spectator shouted “Naomi, you suck” at Naomi Osaka on Saturday evening, with the four-time Grand Slam champion visibly upset during her straight sets defeat against Veronika Kudermetova.

Osaka wanted to speak to the fan using the umpire’s microphone – a request which was denied – although she was interviewed afterwards and referenced a video of abuse being aimed at Serena and Venus Williams at the same tournament in 2001 as a reason for the heckling affecting her.

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“To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before. It didn’t really bother me, but it’s like, heckled here,” she said. "I’ve watched a video of Venus and Serena getting 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 it got replayed a lot.”

When asked about the incident following his defeat to Alexander Bublik, Murray said he sympathises with Osaka, but suggested players must be prepared for heckling – not only in tennis.

“It’s a difficult one,” he said. “I’ve often thought watching certain sports, I wouldn’t say I’ve often seen it loads in tennis - I know it’s happened but I don’t think it’s that common in tennis - but if I watch a football match and a player’s going to take a throw-in or a corner kick and the crowd are just hurling insults at those individuals, I always think like, you know, how’s that allowed? You can’t do that.

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“If you’re doing that to someone when you’re walking down the street or in any other sort of work environment, that’s obviously not tolerated.

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“I’ve obviously played in certain atmospheres as well myself in tennis, like Davis Cup atmospheres, away from home, especially where the atmosphere’s intense, and sometimes things are said and it’s not that comfortable.

“Obviously the people that come to watch, obviously you want them to be there and supporting the players and obviously not making it more difficult for them. I don’t know, but it’s also something that’s always just kind of been part of sports as well.

“If you go and watch a basketball match, for example, and a player’s taking free throws, I would say like almost every basketball match I’ve been to one of the players has been heckled by the crowd as well, and whilst it is wrong for those individuals to be doing it, the athletes obviously have to kind of be used to that as well or be able to deal with that too, even though it’s not pleasant.

“So, obviously I feel for Naomi, that obviously it upset her a lot, but it’s always been something that’s been part of sport as well. So you have to be prepared for that in some ways and be able to tolerate it because it does happen regularly across all sports.”

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