The tennis world is divided over the heated exchange and cold handshake between Naomi Osaka and Sorana Cirstea during the second-round match of the Australian Open.
What caused the heated exchange was that Osaka was consistently shouting “come on” to pump herself up during Cristea’s first and second serve. Cristea took it to heart and felt disrespected by the 28-year-old and complained to the chair umpire, calling it not fair play.
The umpire ruled that no rule was broken, and indeed no rule was broken. There is no written rule in the ITF or Grand Slam rulebook that prohibits a player from verbalising or speaking between serves as long as it is not a deliberate hindrance or timed to distract during the opponent’s service motion.
Cirstea ended up losing the match 6-3,4-6,6-2. When Osaka approached her, the 35-year-old gave her a cold handshake and shouted Osaka does not know what’ fair play is.”
On the court interview, Osaka was asked what did it take to get through that one? She replied,” Apparently, a lot of come on, she was angry about, but whatever. With the crowd cheering her up.
She continued to say, “I mean, I tried to play well. Well, I think I hit a lot of unforced stairs, but I tried my best. She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open, so okay. Sorry, she was mad about it.
Osaka also apologised about what happened in the press conference room. “I’m a little confused. I guess that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologize. I think the first couple of things that I said on the court were disrespectful. I don’t like disrespecting people. That’s not what I do.”
Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova reacted and gave her honest opinion about the situation on the tennis channel.
“I can get what Osaka said after the match because it’s kind of in the heat of the moment. She was surprised by Cristea’s reaction at the handshake.
“But you cannot be talking out loud between first and second serves of your opponent.
“Cristea was ready to hit the second serve, and Osaka said, ‘come on’ — that’s not right. I don’t think she does it on purpose; she doesn’t realise it.
“You can say ‘come on’ all you want, but keep it inside, do not verbalise it.”
American rapper and actress shared her opinion on twitter which has had a lot of people pulling the racist card. “ This was a consistent trend when Serena and Venus Williams played. To see Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend still have to deal with white players who complain and cannot lose respectfully has got to be exhausting.
Naomi Osaka will face Maddison Inglis in the third round of the Australian Open. It will be the first time both opponents meet, with Osaka being the fans’ favourite to win.
