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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I agree 100% with this analysis onTennis Channel. Great take:
https://twitter.com/tennischannel/status/1038566290972004352?s=21
/sigh Lahyani would have handled the situation better. And I agree that if the umpire would not have called a man on Serena’s behavior he has no business calling a woman on it! But Serena’s been a pro for lo these many years and really ought to know the rules.
I am shocked to read here that calling the umpire a ‘thief’ is not a big deal and the punishment that followed was too much. Letting someone do that to an umpire will have long-term devastating effects on tennis. Everyone has to be responsible of their words too. Disagreeing and showing frustration is fine. Attacking someone personally is not.
Umpire was harsh. I think Serena had a right to be mad. But I think the fashion in which she vented the anger was not okay. I also just mainly don’t like the whole thing for Osaka’s case. She thoroughly outplayed Serena and deserved it 100% but may not have felt like it at the end with the boos at the ceremony. Anyways, she is awesome and so good for her age. And unlike Ostapenko, she isn’t a total coin flip go-for-broke style player. She actually has some control in her game, both physically and emotionally.
I think the Serena did take the coaching violation too personally. It has nothing to do with her. The chair umpire saw her coach giving signals. She may not have seen it. But that does not make her a cheater. Even her own coach admitted after the match on ESPN that he did it. It all went wrong from there. Serena would not let it go.
I also think deep down it was that Serena was getting outplayed. She was not playing well and Osaka kept her cool and played great tennis.
I felt so bad when Osaka has the chance to talk atcthe trophy ceremony and she said to the crowd that she knows they all wanted Serena to win and broke down crying. That just broke my heart. The one good thing that Serena did was to tell the crowd to stop booing and give Isaka her moment. That was the right thing to do.
It was really such a shame that this young woman’s triumph was spoiled by this controversy.
I think there is great pressure on Serena. She lost Wimby final and now USO. Did she ever lose 2 consecutive slam finals before? She was furious because Naomi was better player and that’s probably very frustrating for someone who is used to be the winner most of the times.
Yeah, Eugene, she lost the Aussie Open Final and the the French final back-to-back just two seasons ago, against Kerber and Muguruza, respectively.
I think that’s the only other time, though. Prior to 2016, I feel like you could count her number of major final losses on one hand. And then out of nowhere, she lost 4 out of her last 6 major Finals. Part of it is surely age, the most recent two could be attributed to both age and having recently returned from giving birth.
Either way, she is clearly under more pressure than she wants us to believe. Personally, I don’t think Margaret Court should even be mentioned in the same breath as Serena Williams. She won a lot of her titles as an amateur, and the Aussie Open (which she won 11 times) was an absolute joke in the 1960’s/‘70s.
But clearly it is very important to Serena that there be no asterisks of any kind when discussing her legacy, as some idiots who know nothing about tennis could always try to claim that Serena isn’t as great as the fucking devil Margaret Court.
Ok, can you tell I’m biased against Court haha? I truly believe she is the absolute most hideous, disgusting, morally bankrupt, homophobic waste of space.
Margaret Court is the TRUE “pox” on tennis, without a doubt. Thank god that 99% of the world doesn’t even know she exists…
I missed the final altogether, so hearing all this second hand is disappointing.
But it reminds me of 2011 , and I think 2012? when Serena allegedly threatened a lineswoman .
Allegedly?
I just don’t know .
But its not the first time she just looked like a bad loser in the US Open final .
Serena’s “threat” came when she threatened to stuff a tennis ball down the lineswoman’s throat for daring to call a foot fault on her. She CANNOT BE SERIOUS!
On the other hand, every player for the WTA is female and quite a few of them are black. Why is it always Serena that plays the race/gender cards?
2011 , that’s right, she claimed racism against Sam Stosur.
I wonder if she’ll ever beat Margaret Courts record?
Serena doesnt do herself any favours…
2012 /lineswoman incident, it took her three days to apologise.
Big big congrats to Naomi!!!…..Wooohoooo!!….Who would have thunk she will win in her 1st attempt????Oh my God!!…To think that all her senior peers take years to win 1st slam..and she did it in her 1st try!!!….JUST WOW!!!!
Caroline Wozniacki took 7 years to secured her 1st slam…..Simona & many others…Oh wow!….Just hope Naomi will not be like other champions who goes AWOL after won their 1st….She just too good & too talented for that….C’mon Naomi!!
Also wanna give a BIG CONGRATS for Eugene for winning our Brackets!!…Hey hey hey buddy!….Awesome!!
Amazing Naomi,full credit to anyone who predicted her to do well.
Looks like Patrick Mouratoglou has dragged a certain someone into this on-court coaching fiasco.
I don’t know what the fuss is about on-court coaching from the stands , hand gestures and the like. How much difference is it going to make to the outcome?
Mouratoglou touched on one of Williams’ complaints – that similar things happen in the men’s game, that go unpunished.
“It’s strange because this chair umpire was the chair umpire of most of the finals for Rafa (Nadal) and (his coach) Toni is coaching every single point, and he never gave a warning. So I don’t really get it,” he said.
#OnCourtCoaching
If you mean his reference to Uncle Toni coaching Rafa? That was totally unnecessary. Rafa has been fined for coaching. But you would never see him react like Serena. This was about Serena’s coach. He even dragged Osaka’s coach into it by saying he was giving her coaching signals throughout the match.
So his position seems to be that he did coach, but everyone else does it.
“So his position seems to be that he did coach, but everyone else does it.”
this is such BS. tio toni and francisco roig are notorious for coaching dull during matches. mouratoglou brought up a perfect example.
Federer is P.E.D.erer
#fleurturd
https://media.giphy.com/media/4NvsOAcKCGPSsV1zpQ/giphy.gif
#RetirementGoat
Never click on fleurturd links.
Besides, Federer is P.E.D.erer. (and chickened out of the world tour final championship match vs Nole not because he couldn’t play but because, in his own words, “wouldn’t have a chance” to win.
Coaching from the stands is rampant but I have not seen it called in ages. No clue why Ramos suddenly decided to call it but maybe it had been going on for awhile and seeing Serena change her tactics and approach the net, as her coach had directed, set him off. It’s a theory, anyway.
williams is a zero class bully. she should be suspended from the tour but won’t b/c she is an american. she’ll play the sexism card now. she is such a disgrace.
Serena was just so dramatic, she really overdid it. The crying and borderline bratty behavior was just so annoying. She just kept harassing the ref for the call, incessantly demanding an apology, acting so damn entitled. Naomi Osaka shouldn’t have had to deal with all that drama on the other side of the net during her first slam win. Honestly though, Serena was kind of asking for the second and third penalties after she reacted so volatilely to the first coaching warning and most importantly making it SOOO personal.
Just Serena being Serena, not really a surprise.
Shame this spoiled a really good women’s final. I was surprised at how well Osaka held her nerve and played her game. Wish the best for her going forward.
James Blake says:
I will admit I have said worse and not gotten penalized. And I’ve also been given a “soft warning” by the ump where they tell you knock it off or I will have to give you a violation. He should have at least given her that courtesy. Sad to mar a well played final that way.
James Blake says:
Terrible ruling to give the game penalty. She called him a thief, nothing vulgar at all.
James Blake says::
“Serena (6 time champion) owes the us open audience an apology? That’s the worst take I’ve ever heard. She played with passion and got to the finals 1 year after almost dying in child birth. The us open audience is lucky to have the chance to watch the greatest of all time”
“Osaka played great and deserved the title. Didn’t deserve to have it tarnished with this.”
I agree with Serena on this occasion, but her behaviour in past US finals wasn’t much different.
Nice quote from James Blake .
Another good take…
“There was a place for discretion tonight, and it’s hard to think of other pivotal matches where an umpire was so quick to pull the trigger. There’s plenty of precedent of players venting on the changeover, whether it’s Federer’s salty outburst in 2009 or Nadal’s locking horns with his nemesis Carlos Bernardes, or a countless other number of angry rants that regularly make highlight reels but not the penalty lists. ”
http://www.changeovertennis.com/serena-williams-new-york-problem-soft-power/
Preach if Billie Jean King:
“When a woman is emotional, she’s “hysterical” and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s “outspoken” & and there are no repercussions. Thank you, @serenawilliams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same.”
I didn’t watch the match..just saw footage of Ramos giving her the game penalty. He really escalated the situation needlessly imo. And I have never seen anyone given a game penalty in a major. When you look at the behaviour of people like foggy and kygrios it’s absurd. Foggy has threatened umpires without getting that. I thought Ramos ‘s behaviour was intolerably sexist. If a man had called him a thief in exactly the same circumstances and in exactly the same way he wouldn’t have done that.
There also is a constant problem with people getting outrage because they are speaking in English so everyone understand s them while others are clearly swearing away and hurling insults but no one understand s in the immediate moment what they are saying.
Exactly.
Serena Williams’s U.S. Open Loss Was Humiliating—But Not For Her – What happened to the superstar was shocking. It was not surprising.
“Taking a game away from Williams for using the word “thief” during such a high-stakes match is unlikely to do much to quash the notion that a double standard exists between men and women in today’s competitive tennis field. And the stakes of that double standard can feel even higher for women of color. The support for Williams on Saturday—and throughout her career—comes not just from appreciation for her rare talent, but in part because some fans have an enduring memory of how difficult it is for women of color to make it in expensive, mostly white sports.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/09/a-heart-breaking-grand-slam/569704/
Game penalty in final or first round for an outburst is absurd. I think this final will be remembered more about Ramos’s stupid decision. On one hand one umpire is trying to motivate a douchebag like Kyrgios who is hell bent on throwing in the towel and on the other hand in a high profile major, you come up with this penalty. Get lost Ramos
I was just going to say that the timing of it all was utterly extraordinary and anyway who makes such a big fuss about coaching when it goes on all the time for both men and women?! That’s twice this tourney there have been highly controversial cases of umpires making unwarranted interventions. It’s really disappointing.
And anyone who doubts that Serena being a woman of colour isn’t also a factor has got their head in the sand.