Naomi Osaka recently experienced a very uncomfortable incident in New York ahead of the 2024 US Open, and she shared her story.
The US Open is the season's last Grand Slam, and players have already touched down in the Big Apple. Among them is Osaka, who received a wild card at the event. She also has high hopes for the event in New York.
Osaka won her maiden Grand Slam trophy in New York and added one more trophy after that. It's a great spot for her, and she generally plays very strong tennis there.
Unfortunately, her return to New York wasn't all that comfortable because she experienced a heckling incident on the street, which left her uncomfortable.
Osaka spoke about the incident on her TikTok. The Japanese player really went into detail about what exactly happened, and it was a very uncomfortable situation.
"Okay, so just got back from being outside and tell me why these New New York guys... I don't... So I'm like, walking, I'm in Chinatown, I'm just walking around and this guy, like starts yelling after me: 'Are you from Thailand? Are you from Thailand?' I thought, 'Whatever [...] you know you're supposed to ignore people."
Incidents like this are not uncommon, but they can't be described as common either. New York is a big city, where all sorts of people live. Most of them will have good intentions, but there is also the opposite side, which the former World No. 1, unfortunately, got to experience.
"So, whatever, I'm just walking and a girl, like comes and asks me if I want to take a photo while I'm walking and I say yes and we're taking a photo and the guy comes and he's like smoking a cigarette and he comes from over the girl's phone and he starts like, doing this [gestures] messing up the picture."
"I was like, 'Dude, what the hell is your problem?' I didn't say that out loud, but I was thinking it. But yeah, we just took the picture and like, we both walked away, but it was funny."
Luckily, Osaka was not on her own but with her team, who were able to step in when she started to get uncomfortable. It was a bizarre situation for Osaka, but she left it unharmed, which was the most important thing.
"Yeah, anyway, oh yeah, and then I forgot to mention that I was walking with my team. So, so Wim [Fissette] and Flon [Florian Zitzelsberger], Simon and Mati were there. And Wim was next to me when this guy was shouting, 'Are you from Thailand?'"
"And like, when the guy was kind of like, stepping closer, Wim was like, 'No,' and the guy was like, 'I was talking to her and not to you guys,' and then after all that happened, Wim, of course, [...] so he was like, 'You know, I think that guy wanted to be friends with you, whatever.'"
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