Serena Williams was going to lose the U.S. Open final to Naomi Osaka no matter what. She got throughly outplayed before the second-set incidents, and she got thoroughly outplayed after them. Serena could have gone down in a blaze of glory; there’s certainly no shame in finishing runner-up at consecutive Grand Slams–especially not after giving birth one year earlier. Instead, Serena marred her own loss (and Osaka’s win) with out-of-line behavior that is not exactly out of the ordinary for her.
Of course, she wasn’t the only one to blame for what transpired. Some additional thoughts:
– The only call by chair umpire Carlos Ramos that was remotely questionable was the first coaching violation. Serena’s coach afterward admitted on air that he was coaching, so you cannot really fault Ramos. Granted, that violation is VERY rarely called so Serena had a right to be upset. On this particular call, both sides are easily arguable.
– There is no discussion about the second code violation (point penalty). Serena destroyed a racket. Automatic code violation for any player in any situation. Whether or not that rule is too harsh is up for debate (I’ve always enjoyed watching players destroy rackets, myself), but the rule is the rule.
– The third violation (game penalty) had to be given. Serena straight up called Ramos a “thief” to his face. Without question a code violation for verbal abuse. Yes, more lenient umpires would let that slide at 4-3 in a major final. Still, Serena deserved it. Ramos could have actually called this third violation many minutes beforehand, as Serena had been carrying on and on in a threatening manner long before the “thief” comment. “Thief” was the last straw, and deservedly so.
– Back to the first violation: although it was harsh, you have to be smarter when you have already incurred one violation. You can’t destroy a racket when you know the next violation is a point penalty instead of just a warning and you can’t verbally abuse an umpire for five minutes when you know the next violation is a game penalty and not just a point penalty.
– Serena began her own demise by grossly misinterpreting the first violation for coaching. She told Ramos that he was attacking her character and calling her a cheater. Um, no. It had nothing to do with her. Ramos’ call was that her coach was making motions for her to go the net. The penalty was on the coach, but obviously the player incurs the penalty since you can’t really penalize a coach aside from kicking him out of the stands (which would be absurd). This had nothing to do with Serena’s character.
– Serena’s argument after the point penalty for racket abuse that she should not get the penalty because “I’m a woman” and “I have a daughter” is just so ridiculous it’s not even worth discussing.
– Serena’s argument following the game penalty for verbal abuse that she was being treated differently from men is certainly far more in bounds than the previous “I’m a woman” and “I have a daughter” argument. Men definitely get away with all kinds of obscenities in the directions of chair umpires. That being said, we would have to dig into the archives and see how this particular chair umpire (Ramos) has dealt with being directly abused verbally, complete with finger-wagging and being called a “thief” by a male player in order to know if there is a double-standard to his umpiring.
– Serena handled one thing and one thing only well: the post-match trophy ceremony. She got the fans to stop booing and made sure Osaka got the credit she deserved.
– Osaka getting credit now brings us to the bottom line of the whole thing: THIS INCIDENT LIKELY—ALMOST WITH 100 PERCENT CERTAINTY—HAD NO IMPACT WHATSOEVER ON THE OUTCOME OF THE MATCH. Osaka was the better player from start to finish in this match and it really isn’t even close. She dominated the whole way; played far better tennis and certainly handled the occasion far better mentally. There is absolutely no reason to think Serena would have broken Osaka’s serve at 4-3 (when Serena got the game penalty). Osaka had held serve the entire match and she held serve EASILY at 5-4 when she served for the championship. Holding at 5-4—especially after all the drama and delays that Serena had just caused—is WAY more difficult than holding at 4-3. So there is absolutely no reason to think Osaka wouldn’t have held WITH EASE at 4-3. It’s not complicated: the better played won the match, and the best player (BY FAR) the entire two weeks won the tournament.
– Don’t feel sorry for Osaka. Yes, it would have been more ideal if Serena had not (once again, just as she did when Clijsters won the US Open in 2009) made this all about her, but it’s still an amazing moment for Osaka. She just won the US Open, beat her idol in the final, earned 3.8 million, and clinched earning hundreds of millions in endorsements in Japan the rest of her career. I think she’ll be okay!
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Unusually, I agree with most of your points, the chief of which is that Osaka would have won that match regardless of the game penalty. Good write up.
I do disagree on one important part…I may have to do my own write-up. ha.
definitely!
also: “unusually” hahahaha
She does have a point , about certain behaviours often /usually going unpunished like racquet smashing and four letter words, but I wouldn’t say its a gender thing , but seems like certain players who habitually do the behaviour get away without a warning far more than the occasional offenders.
Saying that, Serena has been no angel in previous US finals
so I cant go against what Ramos did , apart from the first warning .Doesn’t make sense when its OK for players to have on-court coaching in other tournaments.
I liked your analysis.
That day in RG when Ramos thought Djokovic was a black woman with a daughter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJm_oYcDMkM
Yep. Ramos is a good umpire, he has a history of calling the big players out on bad behaviour more than many of his colleagues.
That’s bold talking about equality considering they play 3 sets vs 5 and get coaching at almost every tournament.
And still get the same prize money.
Women’s final had higher TV ratings which is the bulk of the revenue. If anything they should earn more.
Serenas big point was that she doesn’t even take the coaching when its offered.
Especially when its pretty obvious to everyone what her game plan should be 99 % of the time…
No code violation here. Where’s the equal treatment? Nothing to see here folks.
https://youtu.be/AZB9JfhzLzE
ramos exposed the thug mentality of williams. the osaka kid was visibly distressed with what happened and lost all respect she had for williams previously. uso officials were completely flustered during the trophy ceremony. overall, williams managed to ruin the whole event.
Tignor gets it (as usual):
“A good umpire—and Ramos has been among the most respected for years—has to recognize the stakes in any given situation and adjust for them. Instead, with the US Open title on the line, he tipped the scales of the match significantly because a player called him a thief. (As far as I heard, Serena didn’t curse at him.) Ramos would have been better off warning Serena that if she didn’t stop, a game penalty would be coming.”
Here the sportsmanship of the year P.E.D.erer calls Umpire BullS__t with no mention of a code violation:
Halfway through the second set and three break points up, Federer was unhappy with an overrule made by the umpire.
“It was during the shot,” said Federer.
“Don’t look at me like you don’t know what I’m talking about.
“That’s a bullshit argument, it was during the shot.”
No code violation.
He also curses to the umpire in the 2009 USO final. “I don’t give a sh#t…” and then tells the umpire “Don’t f@&king tell me the rules.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koTTY3QuLcQ
Classless. But he’s a white male so he has a different set of rules and is judged differently.
No code violations in either instance.
Serena is right.
serena is nadull of WTA. they both practice on-court coaching (cheating) as pointed out by mouratoglou. while serena is verbally abusive, nadull can become physically abusive.
after rosol dismissed nadull in 2012 wimbledon 2nd round, espn writes:
Nadal’s demeanor grew glum as the match progressed, and in the third set, he bumped into Rosol as they crossed to reach their chairs for a break.
“He wanted to take my concentration,” Rosol said. “That’s OK. I knew he would try something, but I was concentrating.”
Nothing is worse than using PEDs to help win slams and cling onto glory in his late 30s though.
#fleurturdresponse
The adult on the court was Naomi. Serena just couldn’t let it go and Naomi at that point walked away. No one should have to apologize for winning a Grand Slam. She deserved better and here we are a day later still talking about Serena. Happy for Naomi!
if the coaching violation is only very rarely called, why did Ramos decide to do it on this specific occasion? I’d love to hear his answer to that.
You won’t get an answer from Ramos. I’m guessing that Ramos believed the coaching was affecting the match since Serena had moved into the net as her coach directed and was having some success with that tactic. I’m not saying that Serena didn’t decide to do that on her own.
At U.S. Open, power of Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka is overshadowed by an umpire’s power play
“There was absolutely nothing worthy of penalizing in the statement. It was pure vapor release. She said it in a tone of wrath, but it was compressed and controlled. All Ramos had to do was to continue to sit coolly above it, and Williams would have channeled herself back into the match. But he couldn’t take it. He wasn’t going to let a woman talk to him that way. A man, sure. Ramos has put up with worse from a man. At the French Open in 2017, Ramos leveled Rafael Nadal with a ticky-tacky penalty over a time delay, and Nadal told him he would see to it that Ramos never refereed one of his matches again.
But he wasn’t going to take it from a woman pointing a finger at him and speaking in a tone of aggression. So he gave Williams that third violation for “verbal abuse” and a whole game penalty, and now it was 5-3, and we will never know whether young Osaka really won the 2018 U.S. Open or had it handed to her by a man who was going to make Serena Williams feel his power.”
“Ramos had rescued his ego and, in the act, taken something from Williams and Osaka that they can never get back. Perhaps the most important job of all for an umpire is to respect the ephemeral nature of the competitors and the contest. Osaka can never, ever recover this moment. It’s gone. Williams can never, ever recover this night. It’s gone. And so Williams was entirely right in calling him a “thief.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/tennis/at-us-open-power-of-serena-williams-and-naomi-osaka-is-overshadowed-by-an-umpires-power-play/2018/09/08/edbf46c8-b3b4-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a296dd00ae68