Marred by chaos
Williams docked a game after tirade; Osaka sails to title
NEW YORK — Serena Williams was penalized a game for calling the chair umpire a thief during an extended argument as the U.S. Open women’s final descended into chaos Saturday, with fans booing and play delayed before Naomi Osaka wrapped up a 6-2, 6-4 victory for her first Grand Slam title.
The biggest issue for Williams on the scoreboard was that she was outplayed by Osaka, a 20year-old who is the first player from Japan to win a major singles tennis title and idolizes the 36year-old American.
During the trophy ceremony, thousands of fans jeered repeatedly, and both Osaka — the champion — and Williams — the runner-up in her bid for a recordequaling 24th Grand Slam trophy — cried.
Williams put an arm around Osaka’s shoulder and told the crowd: “I know you guys were here rooting, and I was rooting too, but let’s make this the best moment we can. We’re going to get through this and let’s be positive. So congratulations, Naomi. No more booing.”
Afterward, Williams said: “I felt, at one point, bad, because I’m crying and she’s crying. You know, she just won. I’m not sure if they were happy tears or they were just sad tears, because of the moment. I felt like, ‘Wow, this isn’t how I felt when I won my first Grand Slam.’ I was like, ‘Wow, I definitely don’t want her to feel like that.’ ”
This was the third high-profile conflict with an official for Williams at Flushing Meadows, following her infamous tirade after a foot fault in the 2009 semifinals against Kim Clijsters and a dispute over a hindrance call in the 2011 final against Sam Stosur.
What the 2018 final will forever be remembered for is the way
Williams clashed with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, demanding an apology after he initially issued a warning for a code violation in the second set’s second game for receiving coaching, which is not allowed in Grand Slam matches.
Williams objected right away, saying she would never cheat. After the match ended, in an interview with ESPN, Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, acknowledged he had tried to signal Williams but didn’t think she had seen him and added that he thinks every player gets coaching during matches.
Briefly, Williams appeared to be working her way back into the match, breaking Osaka to go up 3-1 in the second set. But Williams played a poor game right after that to get broken, and she smashed her racket. That drew a second code violation and, automatically, cost Williams a point. When she realized that the next game had started with Osaka ahead 15-love, Williams told Ramos he should have retracted the initial warning for coaching.
“I have never cheated in my life!” Williams said. “You owe me an apology.”
She resumed arguing with Ramos later, saying, “You stole a point from me. You’re a thief, too.”
He responded by issuing a third code violation, which results in a lost game. That made it 5-3 for Osaka.
Ramos called both players over to explain his ruling, and Williams began laughing, saying: “Are you kidding me?” Then she asked to speak to tournament referee Brian Earley, who walked onto the court along with a Grand Slam supervisor. Williams told them the whole episode “is not fair,” and said: “This has happened to me too many times.”
“There’s a lot of men out here that have said a lot of things and because they are men that doesn’t happen,” Williams added.
Soon thereafter, the match was over.