Naomi Osaka makes immediate U-turn as Australian Open handshake row takes twist | Tennis | Sport

Naomi Osaka has apologised for “disrespecting” Sorana Cirstea following their second-round match in Melbourne. The two-time former Aussie Open champion beat Cirstea 6-3 4-6 6-2 and was surprised when the Romanian gave her a frosty handshake at the net. Cirstea, who will retire later this season, then complained about Osaka shouting “come on” in between points to get herself going.

Immediately after, the former world No. 1 called out her opponent during her on-court interview. “Apparently a lot of ‘come-ons’ that she was angry about, but whatever…” Osaka said. “I think this is her last Australian Open so, okay, sorry she’s mad about it.”

But the No. 16 seed in Melbourne has now backtracked on her spicy comments and admitted she wished she had handled the situation better. “Well, if I’m being honest, I’ve never been involved in something like this before, so it’s like I don’t know if we’re supposed to leave it on the court and be like, ‘Hey, how you doing?’” the Japanese star said in her post-match press conference. 

“I’m a little confused. I guess that emotions were very high for her. I also want to apologise. I think the first couple things that I said on the court was disrespectful. I don’t like disrespecting people. That’s not what I do.

“So yeah, I mean, if she wants to talk about it, then yeah. But, like, when I’m pumping myself up, in my head I’m not like, Okay, now I’m going to distract the other person. It’s purely for me, so…”

Cirstea had also complained about Osaka’s vocal celebrations in the middle of the third set, but the 16th seed was still taken aback by the tense handshake. “I just thought, I was like, ‘Huh, that’s interesting’. That was my exact thought in my head,” she recalled.

Osaka also thought the world No. 41 didn’t have a reason to be frustrated with her. She added: “Honestly, no. Like, for me, no one’s ever complained about it before. Also the umpire didn’t tell me, like, I was wrong. The umpire said I was fine. I was like, Okay. That was kind of what I thought. Like, I thought we moved past it, so…”

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But the four-time Major winner did get a little louder when Cirstea spoke up during the third set. “I’m not a person that reacts well to be casually disrespected. So yeah, I kind of probably, like, overdid it in the next couple of points. But it takes a lot out of me. Like I’m very tired now,” she explained.

Cirstea, meanwhile, downplayed the incident and wanted to focus on the fact that she had played her final Australian Open match. “No, all good. We just had a chat. Nothing big. Again, I don’t think that’s the main thing after tonight;s match. Again, it was a good match. She was much better than me towards the end. Yeah, she deserved the win. So that’s all I will say,” she said.

“I will not talk about that. Look, this is my last Australian Open. I have been playing for 20 years. It’s more than going on than a five-second discussion at the end that I had with Naomi. This is my last Australian Open and so, yeah, I think the moments are bigger to me than to talk about a five-second chat I had with Naomi at the end.”

Asked whether she had a chance to speak to Osaka after the match, the 35-year-old replied: “Is this the big thing that happened tonight?  No, 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. I don’t think that’s – again, for me this was my last match at the Australian Open, so I think I’ll like to stay with that.”