Naomi Osaka had a rather traumatic experience in Indian Wells where she was brushed aside by Veronika Kudermetova in the 2nd round (6-0 6-4). Unfortunately, Naomi’s performance was heavily affected by a huge meltdown suffered by the Japanese player. Naomi wasn’t able to cope emotionally when a fan shouted: “Naomi, you suck!”
Naomi was in tears for most of the match. She addressed the crowd after her loss despite being in clear distress.
Nadal was asked to comment about Naomi’s struggle. The Spanish legend said he felt for Osaka, but she needs to manage to cope with these situations.
“Even if is terrible to hear from that, we need to be prepared for that, no? At the same time, as we like a lot when the people are supporting, when something like this happens, we need to accept and move forward, no?
We need to resist these kinds of issues that can happen when you are exposed to the people, no?”
Nadal on Osaka’s mental health
Then Nadal said he hopes that Naomi will recover from her mental health issues that seem to be recurring a lot.
“I understand that probably Naomi, suffered a lot with these, probably 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. But the life, nothing is perfect in this life, no? We need to be ready for adversities,” he added.
Nadal in Indian Wells, ranking, and results in 2022
Currently the world no.4, Rafael has achieved a 17-0 record in 2022. The Spaniard is now competing in Indian Wells where he bested Sebastian Korda 6-2 1-6 7-63 and Daniel Evans 7-5 6-3.
Rafael Nadal will come up against the world no.17 Reilly Opelka in the 4th round. The head to head is 1-0 for Nadal.
Rafael clinched 3 titles in 2022 in Melbourne, at the Australian Open and in Acapulco.
Rafael won 91 titles in his career: 24 on hard courts, 62 on clay courts, 1 on indoor courts and 4 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Naomi Osaka in 2022
LWWLWLWWWL Currently ranked no.78, the Japanese played her last match on the 12th of March when she lost to world no.24 Veronika Kudermetova 6-0 6-4 in the 2nd round in Indian Wells (draw).
Currently, during this season the Japanese has achieved an overall 6-2 match record. Naomi Osaka’s best achievement of the present year was getting to the semifinal in Melbourne.
