Osaka, who sparked a conversation about mental health in sports last year with her withdrawal from the French Open, was thrown off her game and began to cry after a person screamed, “Naomi, you suck!” early on in her 6-0 6-4 loss to Veronika Kudermetova.
“In the real world, that happens, you know? I feel very sorry for her,” Nadal said after his 7-5 6-3 win over Daniel Evans on Monday. “We are very lucky people that we’re able to enjoy amazing experiences … because we are tennis players. “I understand that probably Naomi suffered a lot with these 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.”