Martina Navratilova was critical of Naomi Osaka after the Japanese’s on-court behavior irked her Australian Open second-round opponent Sorana Cirstea. According to Navratilova, Osaka’s repeated ‘Come on!’ yells between Cirstea’s first and second serves during the match were simply not acceptable.
On Thursday, January 22, former World No. 1 and four-time Major champion Osaka survived a scare against the 35-year-old Cirstea, winning the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. The WTA stars’ post-match handshake was a frosty one, particularly from the Romanian’s side. When the Japanese asked Cirstea why she offered such a cold handshake, the Romanian blatantly accused Osaka of lacking in values of fair play.
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Cirstea’s irritation with Osaka stemmed from repeated instances of the Japanese saying ‘Come on!’ quite loudly between the Romanian’s first and second serves. Subsequently, in her post-match, on-court interview, Osaka, rather sarcastically, said that her yells were the reason why she was able to get past Cirstea.
Later, Martina Navratilova delivered her assessment of the situation during an appearance on Tennis Channel‘s coverage of the Melbourne Major. Here, the former No. 1 and 18-time singles Slam winner empathized with Naomi Osaka‘s sarcasm in her on-court interview, opining that it was done in the ‘heat of the moment’ by the Japanese.
“I can get what she said after the match because it was just this heat of the moment. She was surprised by Cirstea’s reaction at the handshake,” Navratilova said.
However, the 69-year-old was in no mood to empathize with Osaka when it came to the Japanese’s yells between Cirstea’s serves. The Czech-American also urged Osaka to steer clear of such behavior going forward, adding:
“You cannot be talking out loud between first and second serves of your opponent. Cirstea was ready to hit the second serve when Osaka says, ‘Come on!’ That’s not right. I don’t think she did it on purpose. She didn’t realize it. You can say ‘Come on!’ all you want, but keep it inside.”
Naomi Osaka issues apology to Sorana Cirstea; explains real reason behind ‘come-ons’ between Romanian’s serves
In her post-match press conference, Naomi Osaka apologized to Sorana Cirstea, but not for her ‘come-on’ yells. Instead, the Japanese’s apology was for the sarcastic words she said in her on-court interview. The World No. 17 also claimed that her yells between the Romanian’s serves were her attempts to motivate herself to play better.
“I get that emotions were very high for her and I also want to apologize. I think the first couple things I said on the court were disrespectful and I don’t like disrespecting people. That’s not what I do,” Osaka said.
“If she wants to talk about it, then yeah, but when I’m pumping myself up, in my head I’m not like, ‘Okay and now I’m going to distract the other person.’ It’s purely for me,” she added.
Osaka will now go on to face home hope Maddison Inglis in the women’s singles third round at the 2026 Australian Open.
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Edited by Sudipto Pati
