Rafael Nadal Says Players Should Be Ready For Heckling After Naomi Osaka Exit

Rafael Nadal expressed sympathy for Naomi Osaka following her tearful exit at Indian Wells, but believes players should learn to deal with hostile fans.

Rafael Nadal on Monday expressed sympathy for Naomi Osaka following her tearful exit at Indian Wells, but believes players should learn to deal with hostile fans. Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka was reduced to tears by a heckler on Saturday as she crashed out of the tournament in a straight sets defeat to Veronika Kudermetova. It was another uncomfortable moment for Osaka, who put mental health in the spotlight last year after revealing she had suffered from depression. Speaking after his 7-5, 6-3 third round win over England's Dan Evans on Monday, Nadal said he felt sorry for Osaka, who was subjected to a taunt of "Naomi, you suck" during her loss on Saturday.

However the 21-time Grand Slam king said he believes that players should learn to be ready for hostile atmospheres.

Asked for his opinion about athletes being subjected to negative comments from the crowd, Nadal replied: "These kinds of questions are tough to answer.

"The easy answer for me is 'I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen.'"

However, Nadal added, "in the real world", abuse from spectators happens.