Naomi Osaka is reacting to the icy moment between her and Sorana Cirstea at the Australian Open.
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The tennis players faced off on Thursday at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, with Naomi defeating the retiring Romanian star 6-3, 4-6, and 6-2. But things took an awkward turn at the net, where Sorana gave Naomi a noticeably cold handshake.
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In videos circulating online, Naomi and Sorana approached the net as players normally do. Naomi smiled as she locked hands with Sorana, but just as it looked like she was about to say something, Sorana let go and walked away.
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A visibly surprised Naomi called out to her, and the two had a brief, inaudible conversation amid the cheering crowd. Sorana made a few short comments before walking away again, leaving Naomi shrugging and shaking her head.
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While the conversation wasn’t picked up on camera, Naomi later claimed that Sorana was “angry” about how she hyped herself up during the match. In one clip, Naomi can be heard telling herself, “Come on!” multiple times as she prepared to serve, prompting Sorana to ask an umpire, “Is this okay? To do ‘come on’ between points?” The umpire confirmed it was allowed since Naomi wasn’t serving yet, but Sorana pushed further. “So I can talk between points? … Can I go ‘come on” and talk, basically?” The umpire again said it was fine, explaining, “You’re not serving yet, so it’s not a hindrance to you.”
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After the match, Naomi told a reporter that Sorana was “mad” about her self-pep talks. ‘Whatever,” Naomi continued. “She’s a great player. I think this was her last Australian Open. Sorry, she was mad about it.”
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She later apologized for those comments, calling them “disrespectful” in hindsight. “If I’m being honest, I’ve never been involved in something like this before,” Naomi said. “I don’t know if we’re supposed to leave it on the court and be like ‘Hey.. how you doing?’ I’m a little confused, but I get that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologize.”
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“I think the first couple things I said on the court were disrespectful,” she continued. “I don’t like disrespecting people. That’s not what I do.”
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Naomi also clarified she wasn’t trying to distract Sorana on the court. “When I’m pumping myself up, in my head, I’m not like ‘Okay, and now I’m gonna distract the other person,'” she said. “It’s purely for me.”
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Sorana hasn’t publicly responded to Naomi’s comments, but in a post-match press conference, she said she didn’t want to dwell on the moment. Instead, she emphasized that this was her final Australian Open before retirement. “We just had a chat,” she said. “Nothing big…She deserved the win…There was no drama. It was just a five-second exchange between two players that have been on a tour for a long time. It stays between us.”
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