After being heckled by a fan at Indian Wells, it seems fair and reasonable to ask whether the women’s tennis star could use more time away to find answers for herself.

Let’s start with a story. It takes place in Indian Wells, Calif., at the BNP Paribas Open. Naomi Osaka was on one side of the net. A heckler was in the stands, letting her have it. And Osaka was visibly upset.

This story doesn’t take place this past Saturday night—we’ll get to that in a moment—but rather four years ago. Osaka was facing Sachia Vickery in an early-round match. Vickery—a young American inspired by the Williams sisters and who came to tennis not via country clubs but when her grandmother bought her a racket at a Dollar Store—brought a considerable fan section to this big match. One of the members in her traveling party was especially vocal. Nothing personal. But he brought with him the same sensibilities he would to a Rams or Dodgers or Lakers game and began to yap at the opponent.

Osaka was rattled. She cast a downbeat look and began to tear up. Her coach at the time, Sascha Bajin, asked the fan to stop. Taking advantage of the WTA’s rules that permit coaching during matches at events other than the majors, Bajin came onto the court and calmed Osaka down. She would win the match. And the tournament. And the U.S. Open six months later, her breakthrough.

Osaka has won three additional majors since then. She has topped the world rankings. She has hauled in more than $100 million in endorsements and lit the torch at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And still, she is unsettled by conflict and confrontation and partisan fans. Osaka has said she has struggled with depression since her 2018 US Open victory against Serena Williams and stepped away from the sport in ’21 to tend to her mental health. Since then, her ranking has slipped to No. 78, and she has now gone more than a year without winning a title. On Saturday, she was playing her second match at Indian Wells, against Russian Veronika Kudermetova. Early in the match, a fan yelled, “You suck.”