Andy Murray empathizes with Naomi Osaka's reaction to a heckler, but believes trash talking fans are part of pro sport.
A woman heckler derisively shouting "Naomi, you suck!" brought four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka to tears during her 6-0, 6-4 loss to Veronika Kudermetova on Saturday night.
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Asked his reaction to the Osaka incident today, Former world No. 1 Murray says it's a tough topic but believes athletes in all sports sometimes face public ridicule from fans.
"I mean, it's a difficult one. I mean, I've often thought like watching certain sports, I wouldn't say I've often seen it loads in tennis," Murray said after his Indian Wells loss to Alexander Bublik. "I know it's happened."
Two-time Olympic gold-medal champion Murray cites fans heckling players in Davis Cup and fans distracting NBA players on the free-throw line as examples of fans.
"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, you know, and it's not that comfortable," Murray said. "And, yeah, 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 there's also, it's also something that's always just kind of been part of sports as well.
"You know, if I 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, you know, the athletes obviously, I guess, have to kind of be used to that as well or be able to deal with that too, even though it's not pleasant."
Ultimately, Murray said while he feels for Osaka he believes fans taunting athletes is a part of sport.
"So, obviously I feel for Naomi, that obviously it upset her a" lot and, you know, but yeah, it's always been something that's been part of sport, I guess, as well," Murray said. "So, you know, you have to, I guess, 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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