WATCH: Naomi Osaka angers Australian Open opponent with untimely 'Come on'
NewsFriday, 23 January 2026 at 14:29
Naomi Osaka's second-round match at the 2026 Australian Open got a bit spicy after she angered her opponent during the third set of the match.
Osaka bested Antonia Ruzic in the first round of the Australian Open to set up a second-round meeting with Sorana Cirstea. The Romanian is an experienced player, and she played well in the opening two sets.
The score was tied after two sets, so a third set had to decide the match. Osaka got off to a good start, breaking her opponent's serve in the opening game of the third set. She then came under threat of losing the break at 3-2 when she faced two break points.
But the former WTA world No. 1 player saved both break points, and maybe that was also why her opponent became quite annoyed in the following game. Cirstea was serving at 4-2 and 30-30 when she missed her first serve.
In between her first and second serves, Osaka tried hyping herself up with a few "Come ons." However, that angered her opponent, who asked the umpire if it was okay for Osaka to do that between serves.
The umpire insisted that since Cirstea wasn't in a motion of her serve yet, it was fine for Osaka to talk to herself. The match continued, with the Japanese player winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. She may have forgotten about the incident in the meantime, but was quickly reminded at the net.
Cirstea offered her only a brief, icy handshake, to which Osaka responded by asking the Romanian what she had done to deserve it. Cirstea then told her 16th seed that she didn't act fairly.
"That? For not knowing what fair play i, my friend, you're playing for so long and you don't know what fair play is."
Osaka was then asked about the moment during the on-court interview, but she only briefly addressed it, saying her opponent could have handled the situation differently.
"Apparently, a lot of 'come ons' that she was angry about. Whatever. She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open. Sorry, she was mad about it. She could have asked me. Like..."
Naomi Osaka apologizes after Cirstea incident
After the match, Osaka realized that her initial reaction and the way she handled the on-court interview probably weren't ideal either. That's why she used her press conference to apologize to her opponent.
"If I’m being honest, I’ve never been involved in something like this before. I don’t know if we’re supposed to leave it on the court and be like 'Hey.. how you doing?' I’m a little confused but I get that emotions were very high for her."
"I also want to apologize. I think the first couple of things I said on the court were disrespectful. I don’t like disrespecting people. That’s not what I do. If she wants to talk about it, then yeah. When I’m pumping myself up, in my head, I’m not like ‘Okay, and now I’m gonna distract the other person.’ It’s purely for me. And my on-court interview, which I thought I could’ve done a lot better."
Osaka will want to forget the incident and prepare for her third-round match against home player Maddison Inglis. She needed three sets in both of her first two matches, and will want to get through the third round in a more straightforward way.
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