Serena Williams is in her best form since giving birth to her first child last summer. Naomi Osaka is in her best form since she won the Indian Wells title and then beat none other than Serena in Miami. The result should be a high-quality U.S. Open title match on Saturday.
Serena was the first to book her spot in the final on Friday evening, when she made routine 6-3, 6-0 work of Anastasija Sevastova. Osaka followed with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over 2017 U.S. Open runner-up Madison Keys.
“It is remarkable,” Serena said of her comeback, which now features back-to-back Grand Slam final appearances (lost to Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon). “I couldn’t have predicted this at all. (I’ve) just been working really hard.
“This is just the beginning of my return. I’m still on the way up; there’s still much more that I plan on doing. You don’t reach your best a couple months in. That’s kind of where I am now. I just feel like there’s a lot of growth to still go in my game. That’s actually the most exciting part.”
If the former world No. 1 gets even better on Saturday, that will be bad news for Osaka. Either way, however, it will be an amazing experience for the 20-year-old from Japan. She grew up idolizing Serena and even stunned the 23-time major champion 6-3, 6-2 in the Miami opening round following her title at the Indian Wells Masters.
Unsurprisingly, Osaka had only good things to say about Serena after she beat Keys on Thursday night.
“When you just come back and then you make the finals of two slams, I think that’s really amazing,” the world No. 19 praised. “I’m sure that everyone knows that Serena’s really good, of course. But I really feel like I don’t want to overthink this match, so I’m not going to think that she’s so much better than she was in Miami. I’m just going to go out there and play. Since I already know she’s a good player, I don’t want to be surprised if she plays better or not.”
“It feels a little bit surreal,” Osaka admitted. “Even when I was a little kid, I always dreamed that I would play Serena in a final of a Grand Slam. Just the fact that it’s happening, I’m very happy about it. At the same time I feel like even though I should enjoy this moment, I should still think of it as another match. Yeah, I shouldn’t really think of her as my idol; I should just try to play her as an opponent.”
So far only Kaia Kanepi has come close to challenging Serena through two weeks in New York (the Estonian succumbed 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 during fourth-round action. Osaka, meanwhile, has survived one three-setter of her own (against Aryna Sabalenka, also in round four) while otherwise cruising into the final.
With Serena close to her best and the enormity of the occasion in front of Osaka, this is the American’s title to win or lose.
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Ramos did the right thing. thugs and bullies should be handled exactly how he did it. i am afraid, he may be suspended now as he dared to sanction an american player. yanks will pull all the strings to destroy his career. i hope not.
Nothing to do with nationality.
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Well many of them were calling out rubbishgoat’s hypocrisy!!
Congrats to darling Naomi Osaka!
I didn’t see the match but I’ve watched highlights of Serena and the Umpire.
Isn’t Ramos kind of an asshole anyway? It’s just my impression of him – a bias probably. Maybe Serena could have handled it somehow with less trauma to Naomi, it’s distressing to think that this USO Final will be more remembered for the trouble and controversy. But I don’t have a problem at all with Serena calling out hypocrisy, sexism, and racist decisions coming from someone who obviously should not be allowed to umpire WTA matches.
It’s just heartbreaking that Naomi Osaka’s first GS wasn’t able to be more celebrated at the time for her. She’s likely understands more looking back on it over time.
Who are you supporting tonight rc!!??
I think Delpo winning would be amazing!!
Same question to hawks!!
Hi Amy!
I don’t know who I’ll be cheering more but I’m home and ready to watch this final. Right now I want Delpo to get this but when I see the match, no doubt I’ll also be cheering for Nole if he’s getting waxed. I’ll be happy either way…. I think 😀
Well Nole and Delpo are my 2 faces after Rafa rc! But Delpo hasn’t won a slam in nearly 10 years and has faced years of painful injuries so I am definitely supporting him!
Del Potro for sure as the underdog and after all he’s gone through.
But I’ll be happy for Nole ole ole to as well. I’d like to see Rafa and Nole get at least 20 slams each which I think they can both achieve before they retire. Glad he’s recovered his form.
Nole said that he’d have more to say in the future about his recent slump. I’m pretty sure that I know what he will say and it will probably be after he retires.
That’s very enigmatic hawks! So what do you think he ie Nole is going to say??
if people are concerned about sexism, why not just have male umpires for mens matches, and female ones for women’s?
I don’t even.
It’s okay…I feel very attached to Delpo and I think most here will be cheering for him. What I want is a hard fought match – preferably 5 sets! Then I don’t feed bad for either who loses (I think). I can think of reasons I want both players to win. Cheers!
Actually I thought you might be leaning towards Delpo for similar reasons to the ones I gave! Nole is probably going to have a lot more chances than Delpo to win slams!
Could be a classic match tonight..
It’s a close call amy. I fall into that trap of wanting more and more for Novak because I’m defensive of him and feel he’s underappreciated compared to Rafa and Roger and I guess the only way he’ll be up there with Fedal is to accumulate the astronomic numbers.
But my love for Delpo is certainly leaning for him.
Well I think Nole will win more slams anyway!! But I don’t see so many chances for delps because he isn’t so fit and may have problems with his wrist again. And he has only got one slam! So I am definitely on the Delpo train….
Many women can be just as ignorant about the many ways of being sexist as men. And many men are as fair and knowledgeable as any woman. Sexism manifests itself in ignorance. It also can be intentional but I mostly think someone like Ramos doesn’t think he’s being sexist – he’s ignorant. It’s just the force of habit that he’s learned from society and has had no cause to think deeply about it.
LOL, He probably will thing more about it in the future – Ramos will.
think
From Twitter:
“Serena Williams didn’t have a meltdown. She defended her honor on one of the grandest stages in a sport she’s dominated for her entire adult life that continually disrespects her. Don’t reduce her justified frustration to sexist behavioral stereotypes.”
I wasn’t!
I was responding to a suggestion “guest” made
My post wasn’t in any way a reaction to you rc. Sorry if it came across that way.
Just something I appreciated on twitter. 🙂
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.”