Topics: Naomi Osaka, Tennis, Australian Open, Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, has offered her thoughts on Naomi Osaka’s Australian Open second-round outburst against Sorana Cirstea.
In the moments after wrapping up a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory against Cirstea in Melbourne, Osaka was greeted with a rather frosty on-court handshake.
The Romanian then exchanged a few words with her Japanese opponent near the umpire’s chair.
It was initially unclear why Cirstea was annoyed, but in Osaka’s post-match interview, she said she regularly shouted “come on” during the match, which did not go down well with the Romanian.
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When asked how she overcame Cirstea after the match, Osaka said: “Apparently, a lot of 'come ons' that she was angry about."
The 28-year-old, who was previously ranked as the WTA world number one in 2019, then claimed that she thought Cirstea was complaining because she was pumping herself up between serves.
“… She could have asked me [to stop]. I'm sorry," Osaka explained.
"She's a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open, so sorry she was mad about it."
Several fans called Osaka out for her ‘disrespectful’ comments about her second-round opponent, which caused her to apologise.
After saying that emotions were “very high” for Cirstea, the Japanese then admitted that she wanted to “apologise” for her actions and post-match comments.
"I think the first couple of things that I said on the court were disrespectful,” Osaka said.
“I don't like disrespecting people. That's not what I do."
Meanwhile, when asked about the situation, Cirstea insisted that there was no issue between the pair.
Cirstea will call time on her two-decade tennis career at the end of the year. Osaka, who won the 2021 Australian Open, will face Maddison Inglis in the third round.
But despite the issue between the players seemingly being quickly resolved, Novak’s wife, Jelena, still waded in with her take on the situation via an Instagram comment.
Jelena, who has been married to the 10-time Australian Open winner since 2014, suggested that Osaka did hinder Cirstea’s performance by shouting in between serves.
“Hmm, I’m surprised that this is not being called [a] hindrance,” she wrote.
“In between 2 serves, when [the] crowds are applauding or shouting, the chair ump asks not to shout between serves as it is disturbing to the player.
"The point is not finished. Sorana missed her first serve and is focusing on getting in the second, it is a slight pause. And it is disrespectful to applaud at someone’s first serve mistake, too. I am surprised that the chair / Naomi thought that was fair?! Were there any rule changes that I missed?!”
Jelena will likely now be focusing on her husband’s third-round clash against Botic van de Zandschulp on Saturday (January 24).
