By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday March 14 2022
The great Rafael Nadal has weighed in on Naomi Osaka’s run-in with a heckler on Saturday night at the BNP Paribas Open.
Though the Spaniard feels deeply for Osaka, he thinks she has to be strong in the face of an element that, however unfortunate, is part of the sport.
“I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen,” he said, before adding: “The real thing, in the real world, that happens, you know? I feel very sorry for her. We are having, in my opinion, a great life. We are very lucky people that we're able to enjoy amazing experiences because of our life, because we are tennis players. We make money.”
Nadal echoed the sentiments of Andy Murray, who said that players need to be equipped to face such adversities, even if they shouldn’t be happening at all.
It’s just the silly world we live in.
“Even if is terrible to hear from that, we need to be prepared for that, no?” Nadal said. “We need to resist these kind of issues that can happen when you are exposed to the people, 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?
“I understand that probably Naomi, he suffered a lot with his probably kind of issues that she has, mental issues. The only thing that I wish her is 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.”