‘Need To Be Prepared’ - Rafael Nadal Weighs In On Osaka’s Heckling Incident At Indian Wells - UBITENNIS
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‘Need To Be Prepared’ – Rafael Nadal Weighs In On Osaka’s Heckling Incident At Indian Wells

The former world No.1 says players must ‘accept and move forward’ when such incidents occur.

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Image via https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen

Rafael Nadal said he feels ‘terrible’ about what happened to Naomi Osaka at the BNP Paribas Open last week but warned that players should be prepared for such situations.

 

Osaka bowed out in the second round to Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets. During the match a member of the crowd heckled the Japanese star and was heard shouting ‘Naomi, you suck.’ Following the incident the former world No.1 was seen crying during the match and spoke with the tournament supervisor multiple times.

Osaka explained after the match that the heckling reminded her of a previous incident at Indian Wells involving the Williams sisters. In 2001 Serena Williams was subjected to boos during the final and her father said he received racial abuse. The incident occurred following unsubstantiated allegations that the Williams sisters fixed their semi-final match with Venus pulling out due to injury which gave her sister a bye. Serena boycotted the tournament until 2015 and Venus until 2016 as a result of what happened.

Ive been heckled before and it didn’t really bother me,” a tearful Osaka explained afterwards.
“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.”

Questioned about Osaka following his win over Dan Evans on Monday, 21-time Grand Slam champion Nadal sympathized with his fellow tennis player. Although he admits that players need to accept that heckling occurs and they should be ready for it. However, the issue isn’t as prevalent as it is in other sports such as football.

“The easy answer for me is I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen,” Nadal told reporters.
“Even if it is terrible to hear that, we need to be prepared for that, no?
“At the same time, as we like a lot when the people are supporting us, when something like this happens, we need to accept and move forward.
“We need to resist these kinds of issues that can happen when you are exposed to the people.”

In recent months 24-year-old Osaka has taken time away from the sport due to personal reasons surrounding her mental health. Last year during the French Open she revealed that she has been suffering from social anxiety and depression since 2018. The year she won her maiden WTA title at Indian Wells as well as her first US Open trophy.

“I understand that probably Naomi suffered a lot with these, kind of issues that she has, mental (health) issues. The only thing that I wish her is to recover well from that and wish her all the very best,” said Nadal.
“But life, nothing is perfect in this life, no? We need to be ready for adversities.”

Osaka is set to return to action later this month at the Miami Open.

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Roman Safiulin cruises past Brandon Nakashima at the Chengdu Open

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Roman Safiulin cruised past Brandon Nakashima 6-4 6-4 in 88 minutes to reach the second round at the Chengdu Open. 

 

Safiulin hit 22 winners to Nakashima’s 17 and did not face a break point. He broke once in each set. 

“I think the most important thing was to hold my serve and just try to get some break points and try to use them. That was the main goal for the match”, said Saifiulin. 

Safiulin reached his first Grand Slam quarter final at Wimbledon moving up to world number 43 in the ATP Ranking. The Russian player set up a second round match against fourth seed Daniel Evans. 

Corentin Moutet beat Chinese wild card Mu Tao 6-2 6-2. The Frenchman set up either Miomir Kecmanovic or qualifier Benjamin Lock. Moutet earned an early break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Mu broke straight back to draw level to 2-2. Moutet won the final four games with two breaks to close out the first set 6-2. The Frenchman broke twice in the fifth and seventh games to seal the second set 6-2. 

Taro Daniel came back from one set down to beat Alexander Vukic 4-6 6-2 6-2. Daniel will face either Christopher O’Connell or Alibek Kachmazov. Vukic broke serve in the fourth game of the first set to take a 3-1 lead. Daniel broke back to love in the seventh game and held serve to draw level to 4-4. Vukic broke for the time in the 10th time to win the first set 6-4. 

Daniel broke in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Vukic broke back to draw level to 3-3. Daniel earned a second break in the ninth game to seal the second set 6-2 forcing the match to the decider. Daniel broke twice in the first and seventh games to win the second set 6-2. 

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Caroline Garcia, Victoria Azarenka and Ons Jabeur to reach the Round of 16 at the Guadalajara Open

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Number 3 seed Caroline Garcia saved two match points to beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 at the Guadalajara Open AKRON. 

 

Garcia was a point away from losing to Sasnovich for the first time after five consecutive wins as the world number 89 was serving for the win at 6-4 6-5. 

Garcia fended off a break point in her first service game before earning a decisive break at love at 3-3.

Garcia set up a third round match against Hailey Bapriste, who saved a match point to upset Karolina Pliskova. 

“We saw a few forehands directly in the wall behind the court, but it is what it is. I am very happy with the way I managed to fight at the end of the second set. I lost a little bit my serve at the end of the first set, but I managed to come back. It’s a great win, and I definitely wins”, said Garcia.  

Former world 1 Victoria Azarenka beat Dayana Yastremska 6-4 7-6 (7-5). Azarenka earned a break in the third game to seal the first set 6-4. Yastremska broke serve at love in the second game to open up a 2-0 lead. Azarenka broke straight back in the third game. Yastremska broke for the second time at love in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Azarenka broke serve for the second time before saving two set points at 5-4 in the second set. Both players traded the mini-break three times in the tie-break. Azarenka earned his fourth mini-break to win the tie-break 7-5. 

Azarenka set up a third round match against Veronika Kudemertova, who won both of their head-to-head matches in Dubai in 2022 and at the Adelaide International 2 in 2023. 

Ons Jabeur cruised past Alycia Parks 6-2 6-2 in 59 minutes to improve her head-to-record against the US record to 3-0. Jabeur had previously beaten Parks in Charleston in 2021 and Berlin in 2022. 

Jabeur is aiming her second WTA 1000 title of her career after winning at the Madrid Mutua Open in 2022. 

Jabeur broke with a passing winner in the first game. Parks made 26 unforced errors in the first set. 

Jabeur earned an early break at love in the first game of the second set. Parks broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Jabeur won the next four games to seal the second set 6-2. 

Jabeur converted five of her break points. Parks hit six aces and made seven double faults. 

Jabeur set up a Round of 16 match against Martina Trevisan, who beat Jasmine Paolini 7-5 6-2. The Tunisian player beat Trevisan 6-2 6-2 in Charleston in 2021. 

Maria Sakkari beat Storm Hunter 6-2 6-4 to set up a Round of 16 match against Camila Giorgi. Sakkari leads 3-0 in her previous head-to-head matches against Giorgi. Emma Navarro beat number 4 seed Madison Keys 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to set up a Round of 16 match against Leylah Fernandez.

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Jannik Sinner starts his autumn campaign in Beijing with the goal to qualify for the ATP Finals

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Jannik Sinner will play his next tournament at the ATP 500 tournament in  Beijing later this month to secure his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. 

 

Sinner is currently fourth in the Race to Turin with 4365 points and has a good chance to qualify for the end-of the season tournament. He was an alternate two years ago and replaced injured Matteo Berrettini in the 2021 ATP Finals in Turin. The Italian player won two tournaments in 2023 in Montpellier and in Toronto clinching his first Masters 1000 title. He also reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon before losing to Novak Djokovic, his second Masters 1000 final in Miami, the semifinal in Indian Wells, the final in Rotterdam and the Round of 16 at the Australian Open. 

Carlos Alcaraz (Wimbledon champion), Novak Djovovic (Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open and Cincinnati champion) and Danil Medvedev (Masters 1000 champion in Miami and Rome) have already secured their spot in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. 

Just 630 points separate fifth placed Andrey Rublev (3640 points) and ninth placed Taylor Fritz (3010 points). Rublev is aiming to qualify for the fourth consecutive year for the ATP Finals. The Russian player won his first Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo and in Bastad and reached the finals in Dubai, Halle and Banja Luka, the quarter finals at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon. Rublev is aiming to qualify for the ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas is currently ranked sixth in the ATP Race to Turin with 3570 points and Holger Rune (3055 points). Tsitsipas won the title Los Cabos and reached two final at the Australian Open and in Barcelona, the semifinal in Rome, the quarter finals in Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Roland Garros. 

Rune won his second consecutive title in Munich and reached two Masters 1000 finals in Monte-Carlo and Rome, two Grand Slam quarter finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, two semifinals in Acapulco and Queen’s.  

Two-time ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev reached the quarter finals at the US Open and is currently ranked eighth in the ATP Race to Turin. The Danish player last won two consecutive ATP Tour-level matches at Wimbledon. 

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