Osaka’s US Open Triumph Marred by Ugly Serena Meltdown

The minute Serena started bringing up that she is a mother, to the referee it was all downhill from there, bottom line she was getting completely outplayed and she was freaked out by it. Yet she made it all about herself, just saying Osaka played well, not that she was the better player that day etc. I agree an ugly meltdown and her coach was clearly coaching her, credit Osaka that he had to do it. Not quite sure why she said she made this a gender thing, it clearly wasn’t. I agree Scoop, this will be turned around, but how many sports writers will just say the odvious, Serena was outplayed today and she had a meltdown, Osaka deserved to win.

Well said, Scoop. In the presser Serena tried to and showed poise until the end then she finally capitulated to some awkard feminist virtue-signaling. The devil made her do it. Or should i say “just do it”?

Nothing suprising occurred.

Typical behavior from that part of American culture.

Also, the winner acted like typical Japanese.

Look Scoop is right on the money on this one. This wasn’t as bad as threatening to shove a ball down the throat of a lineswoman but it was right behind that.

Like a fighter behind on points, Serena tried to win on a technicality with her crazed rant at the end of the press conference. What does Cornet removing her shirt have to do with this match? Does that make any sense?

For the media to be hailing that rant as anything but nonsensical is beyond ludicrous. Why was she telling Ramos she has a daughter? What does that have to do with anything?

Furthermore, she accused Ramos of sexism. Yet information has been dug up of Ramos giving violations to Djoker, Nadal, Murray and Kyrgios. Are they all women?

http://larrybrownsports.com/tennis/umpire-carlos-ramos-history-code-violations-serena-williams/463180

I thought Serena was banned from the Open for that one incident. That means she should be held to a higher standard. Instead she lowered it to depths unseeable. I worry about her daughter and hope that the father gets sole custody when the inevitable divorce happens because no child should have to deal with an unhinged parent like this one.

To illustrate Scoop’s point on the media, here is Chris Fowler’s tweet…

https://twitter.com/cbfowler/status/1038558646991560705

A powerful mic drop? Compare that to how the people were demanding answers from Sandgren Down Under.

That press conference was a joke. Only the one British reporter asked Serena why she felt she was cheated.

Even more disgraceful is Mourataglou throwing Rafa Nadal into disrepute. The Fed fans are having fun with that on the forums now. Poor Nadal didn’t need to be dragged into Serena’s nonsense.

What an indescribable mess. The only person who comes of it well is Naomi. But the achievement of her first GS is utterly ruined because Serena’s gratuitous dramatics literally stole the show.

No need to drag politics into this. Serena behaved disgracefully and so did the crowd. And what’s all the stuff about ‘I have a daughter’ ? None of this row had to do with sexism or motherhood. And as for Billie Jean sticking her nose in and saying coaching should be allowed on every point – the woman’s lost her marbles. Imagine the zoo that tennis would become.

I’m glad Naomi won, she’s a terrific player who behaved impeccably throughout the whole shambles. Japan should be proud of her.

Unfortunately it looks as if Serena won’t be retiring for a while yet. Problem is, she’s been surrounded by such a crowd of sycophants for so long that she feels she can do and say anything. Serena’s a tennis player – a great one, but take that away and she’s just a very very rich slightly undereducated woman with an enormous sense of entitlement in areas a long way outside the single slightly eccentric skill which has made her famous.

I was a journalist writing for The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice, and Tennis Magazine for more than 20 years. I had hundreds of articles published, more than 100 in The New York Times alone, and I was never told about this “agenda.” So it’s all a bunch of crap when people refer to the media’s “agenda.”

It’s not easy being a sportswriter, which is mostly what I was. You go into the locker room to interview the Knicks coach after a loss, and yes you can ask any question you deem worthy and pertinent, but you have to have a relationship with that coach and if you ask something probing and likely to disturb him, he might blackball you going forward. So unless you have the power and stature of a Howard Cosell as a journalist/broadcaster, it’s hard to really push these subjects.

That being said just in the tennis media I’ve known, there’s been lots of great reporters who’ve written their stories with integrity, skill and great insight from Curry Kirpatrick to Frank Deford to Bud Collins to Jon Wertheim. There were different takes on this story, some put the blame at Serena’s feet and other’s at Ramos’. Some say he should be banned from umpiring. He certainly could’ve handled this better than he did although I think he did his job correctly, what he failed at doing was communicating well with Serena.

Of course the sad thing is that Naomi’s remarkable achievement gets lost in all the brouhaha. She played amazing tennis throughout the tournament, but the big test was facing Serena in a Slam final, a challenge she embraced. She played amazing tennis from the beginning to the end of the match, showing both great skill and composure.

I plan to watch the match again, just to enjoy seeing her play. And am looking forward to her next matches, although it’s a challenge to find women’s matches outside of the Slams.

She has made a LOT of new fans over the last couple of weeks, both for her tennis and her remarkable poise in an impossible situation.

Catherine, I use an “unofficial” stream for women’s matches. I am just annoyed that I can’t see them on TV when my sports channel shows all the men’s tournaments from 500 up. They do show the women’s matches during the Slams and the Rogers Cup, and I enjoy seeing the matches on TV rather than on a laptop screen. Not only is the quality of the video better, I can watch from my couch!

But I will keep YouTube in mind for times when the stream is unreliable.

Regarding Serena, I would like to see her get that elusive #24 Slam. Beyond that, am anxious to see some of the younger players make their mark, so am very excited to see Naomi perform so well. I feel the same way about the men. It’s time to see the youngsters do well. I am tired of seeing the same few men win everything.

Dan, you gotta look at the TV media and who is controlling them. Surely you know that ESPN has a politically-based agenda, that has been proven by a shadow of a doubt. Look at Disney which owns ESPN and which positions they support. Again, I won’t make this thread political but you gotta look at it from that standpoint to figure out the agenda.

Yes I admit I was too harsh on Ramos. I did not see the need for the game penalty but in light of how he has behaved with other players, I see that he is a consistent referee.

On the other hand, you can’t be harsh enough on Serena. Billie Jean King, Evert, Azarenka, Andy Roddick all taking her side. No one wants to call her out as the crazed lunatic she is. Also she was the one responsible for creating a hostile environment in that stadium for poor Osaka.

I feel it would be 100 percent appropriate for the Open to suspend Serena yet again.

Osaka dealt with that situation with such poise and grace…it is with great optimism that I will watch this more respectful younger generation of tennis players coming down the pike. You definitely could see how the Japanese culture and the ability to just keep your mind focused on the positive was what was going on here. I know Osaka’s father was outside the arena walking laps since it makes him nervous to watch her play during a match. I am sure he was extremely proud of her response to this distraction. I bow to you mMss Osaka. I will look forward to watching you play in the future.

“You will never,ever be on a court of mine as long as you live” Not sure everyone heard this most personal, unforgiveable attack.

Ha, red cards in tennis. I would have loved to see that yesterday. Unfortuantely the crowd would have rioted and assaulted the ump.

Scoop, I criticized Serena a few years back after similar (mis)behavior during US open finals against Clijsters and/or Stosur. Cant remember which one…she probably spoiled both of them.

At that time, both you and Richard Pagliato defended her behavior. So let’s not blame media. People can conjure reasons to entertain nastiness, unsportsmanlike conduct etc in the name of competition. At that time, I remember you both justified it as it is all normal under “heat of the battle”.

It took a few years for you to realize and condemn such behavior.
Who knows, next such episode you might change your mind and justify Serena’s behavior.

Overall, I feel like rules are enforced inconsistently and that’s what allows cheating and bad behavior to continue. Every time when someone breaks their racquet, it must be an automatic point penalty. Shouldn’t be left to umpire’s discretion!
Inconsistency in enforcing law and order/ rules leaves room for doubts. And people with low morality and integrity would use that to complain!

One more note on Osaka. For all this hype on the NextGen in men’s tennis, all of them falter at the sight of the greats in Slams.

Not Osaka, who took down the Queen in epic fashion with grace and humility as well. Maybe the WTA should have their own NextGen.

Also impressed that Osaka’s grasp of Japanese seems good since she understood the questions from the Japanese press. One assumes she isn’t yet comfortable to speak the language but she understands it completely.

Djokovic has finally weighed in:

——————–

Novak Djokovic says he thinks the chair umpire interfered too much in Serena Williams’ match but stopped short of saying men and women are treated differently.

Djokovic says Carlos Ramos “just maybe changed — not maybe, but he did change the course of the match” in Williams’ 6-2, 6-4 loss to Naomi Osaka on Saturday night in the U.S. Open final.

Djokovic, who won the men’s title, said he thought Ramos’ involvement was “unnecessary.”

But he disagreed with WTA CEO Steve Simon, who said men and women should be treated equally but that wasn’t the case Saturday.

“I don’t see things as Mr. Simon does,” Djokovic says, adding that “it’s hard to generalize things, really.”

Katrina Adam’s comment was also unbelievable, if she was quoted correctly: ‘we didn’t get the result we wanted’. Which result ? Let’s guess.

Never thought I’d find myself saying this, but thank God for the Royal Family. Dignified presentation at Wimbledon and no interference from the LTA who have nothing to do with the tournament.

I hope to see Naomi collecting the Venus dish someday.

Here”s Wertheim’s take on Ramos’ game penalty for Serena. I think he’s right on track. Ramos reacted too sternly, too rashly:

But I am also hung up on chair umpire Carlos Ramos for penalizing a player—in a Grand Slam final; deep in the second set; with history at stake; with a game penalty in the balance—for using the words “thief” and “liar.” There is no such thing as strict construction in the umpire’s chair. Virtually every decision is discretionary and situational. Hell, just a few days earlier in the tournament, we saw the chair respond to a player flagrantly tanking by giving a personalized pep talk. Anyone who follows tennis closely can think of episodes of agitated players calling chair umpires unprintable names…that trigger only eye rolls and soft warnings. (“Mr. Jones, if you keep this up I’m going to have to give you a penalty.”) Players’ reputations and tendencies and accomplishments and seniority levels matter; and I would contend they should. If we are now in a world where “liar” and “thief” triggers discipline—in a Grand Slam final; uttered by a veteran player—well, we have just established a hell of a precedent. As all officials—judges and teachers and parents—do all the time, Ramos should have swallowed the whistle. He is not solely to blame for Saturday’s regrettable circus. Not by a longshot. But neither is he blameless. Let’s move on.

I find referring to Serena Williams as an, “Ogre,” is quite offensive and disrespectable not only to Serena but to many others. Scoop your writing regarding the match is riddled with rage and unsportsmanlike behavior towards Serena who has brought so much to the sport of tennis. You are certainly entitled to you own opinion but using inappropriate inflammatory words to describe Serina is totally inappropriate and I would expect a more civilized, culturally sensitive, educated and sophisticated response to the unfortunate disagreement between Serena and Ramos.There will still be plenty of fans supporting Serena and I suspect she is far from retirement.