<p>Rafael Nadal on Monday expressed sympathy for Naomi Osaka following her tearful exit at Indian Wells, but believes players should learn to deal with hostile fans.</p>.<p>Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka was reduced to tears by a heckler on Saturday as she crashed out of the tournament in a straight sets defeat to Veronika Kudermetova.</p>.<p>It was another uncomfortable moment for Osaka, who put mental health in the spotlight last year after revealing she had suffered from depression.</p>.<p>Speaking after his 7-5, 6-3 third round win over England's Dan Evans on Monday, Nadal said he felt sorry for Osaka, who was subjected to a taunt of "Naomi, you suck" during her loss on Saturday.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/naomi-osaka-brought-to-tears-by-heckler-at-us-tournament-1090850.html" target="_blank">Naomi Osaka brought to tears by heckler at US tournament</a></strong></p>.<p>However the 21-time Grand Slam king said he believes that players should learn to be ready for hostile atmospheres.</p>.<p>Asked for his opinion about athletes being subjected to negative comments from the crowd, Nadal replied: "These kinds of questions are tough to answer.</p>.<p>"The easy answer for me is 'I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen.'"</p>.<p>However, Nadal added, "in the real world", abuse from spectators happens.</p>.<p>"Even if is terrible to hear from that, we need to be prepared for that, no?" he said.</p>.<p>"We need to resist these kind of issues that can happen when you are exposed to the people, no?</p>.<p>"I understand that probably Naomi, suffered a lot with these, probably kind of issues that she has, mental (health) issues. The only thing that I wish her is recover well from that and wish her all the very best.</p>.<p>"But the life, nothing is perfect in this life, no? We need to be ready for adversities."</p>.<p>Nadal's comments echoed remarks from Scottish star Andy Murray, who was asked about Osaka following his singles exit on Sunday.</p>.<p>"Obviously I feel for Naomi, that obviously it upset her a lot," said Murray.</p>.<p>"But it's always been something that's been part of sport, I guess, as well. So you have to, I guess, be prepared for that in some ways and be able to tolerate it because it does happen regularly across all sports."</p>.<p><em><strong>Check out the latest DH videos here:</strong></em></p>
<p>Rafael Nadal on Monday expressed sympathy for Naomi Osaka following her tearful exit at Indian Wells, but believes players should learn to deal with hostile fans.</p>.<p>Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka was reduced to tears by a heckler on Saturday as she crashed out of the tournament in a straight sets defeat to Veronika Kudermetova.</p>.<p>It was another uncomfortable moment for Osaka, who put mental health in the spotlight last year after revealing she had suffered from depression.</p>.<p>Speaking after his 7-5, 6-3 third round win over England's Dan Evans on Monday, Nadal said he felt sorry for Osaka, who was subjected to a taunt of "Naomi, you suck" during her loss on Saturday.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/naomi-osaka-brought-to-tears-by-heckler-at-us-tournament-1090850.html" target="_blank">Naomi Osaka brought to tears by heckler at US tournament</a></strong></p>.<p>However the 21-time Grand Slam king said he believes that players should learn to be ready for hostile atmospheres.</p>.<p>Asked for his opinion about athletes being subjected to negative comments from the crowd, Nadal replied: "These kinds of questions are tough to answer.</p>.<p>"The easy answer for me is 'I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen.'"</p>.<p>However, Nadal added, "in the real world", abuse from spectators happens.</p>.<p>"Even if is terrible to hear from that, we need to be prepared for that, no?" he said.</p>.<p>"We need to resist these kind of issues that can happen when you are exposed to the people, no?</p>.<p>"I understand that probably Naomi, suffered a lot with these, probably kind of issues that she has, mental (health) issues. The only thing that I wish her is recover well from that and wish her all the very best.</p>.<p>"But the life, nothing is perfect in this life, no? We need to be ready for adversities."</p>.<p>Nadal's comments echoed remarks from Scottish star Andy Murray, who was asked about Osaka following his singles exit on Sunday.</p>.<p>"Obviously I feel for Naomi, that obviously it upset her a lot," said Murray.</p>.<p>"But it's always been something that's been part of sport, I guess, as well. So you have to, I guess, be prepared for that in some ways and be able to tolerate it because it does happen regularly across all sports."</p>.<p><em><strong>Check out the latest DH videos here:</strong></em></p>