24 votes

Naomi Osaka, 20, wins her first Grand Slam title, also the first Japanese woman to do so

Posted by akash (edited )
Tags: tennis, japan, serena williams, naomi osaka, athletes, finals, us open.2018, grand slam

Osaka defeated Serena Williams in two sets, but her victory over her idol is marred by controversy. Williams was flagged with conduct violations due to alleged coaching signals, which Williams vehemently denied and was voicing her displeasure with Ramos, the chair umpire. A warning was followed by a point penalty, followed by...a game penalty. Which is indescribably huge in a match on this big a stage.

It's unfortunate for Osaka, she played incredibly and deserved the win. Williams had to console her during the award ceremony as the crowd booed in protest of the interesting official decisions. I can't imagine a "worse" way to win your first Championship.

I've never seen anything like this in the sport. It was really jarring honestly. Hopefully both competitors move on and things are sorted out.

5 comments

  1. [4]
    cain
    Link
    I was pretty disappointed by Serena Williams, I've been following for at least a little bit of her comeback mostly via tweets from Alexis Ohanian, and she went a bit to over the top for me and...

    I was pretty disappointed by Serena Williams, I've been following for at least a little bit of her comeback mostly via tweets from Alexis Ohanian, and she went a bit to over the top for me and ruined the win for someone who idolized her so much growing up. I can't imagine how Osaka feels right now.

    Here's a dump of all the videos of the altercation with the judge that I posted in the thread on reddit

    Here's the game violation

    Here's the lead up as well

    And here's the coaching she was given a violation for

    Longer video with more of the altercation

    15 votes
    1. [3]
      Ellimist
      Link Parent
      So the Judge ruled that Serena was receiving coaching and penalized her for it? Is that what happened?

      So the Judge ruled that Serena was receiving coaching and penalized her for it? Is that what happened?

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        vegetablesupercargo
        Link Parent
        So far as I understand it (I'm not an expert), in a tennis match, you have to follow a code of conduct. Every time you break a code of conduct, there is a prescribed penalty. 1st offence: warning....

        So far as I understand it (I'm not an expert), in a tennis match, you have to follow a code of conduct. Every time you break a code of conduct, there is a prescribed penalty. 1st offence: warning. 2nd offence: you lose a point. 3rd offence: you lose a game. 4th offence: default (you lose the match).

        1. The umpire ruled that Serena Williams received coaching (specifically, hand signals) from her coach, who was in the stands. In tennis, it is illegal to receive coaching while playing, though this rule is almost never enforced. Nonetheless, the umpire gave Serena Williams a warning (1st violation). She was pissed off because, like I said, it's almost never enforced. She sort of let it go and kept playing.
        2. Later on in the match, Serena Williams was playing poorly and was getting close to losing. She threw her racket at the ground in frustration and destroyed it. This violation is called very consistently in tennis: if you destroy your racket, you will get a violation for it. Because she had already got a warning, the umpire declared "point penalty". When Serena Williams saw that the score wasn't what she expected, she confronted the umpire. He explained that she had already received a warning for coaching, so this was her 2nd violation, and she denied that she received coaching, denied that she was a cheater, started going off on a big rant about how unfair it was, etc.
        3. Later on in the match, during a break, Serena Williams started going off on the umpire again. She said he owed an apology to her, etc. Finally, she called him a "liar" and a "thief" for giving her a point penalty. The umpire decided that that went too far, and so he gave her another violation for disrespecting the umpire. The penalty for that is for her to lose a game.
        4. At this point, Serena Williams is so far behind (already down 1 set, down 2 games in the final set) that it's almost impossible for her to win. (Honestly, with or without the penalties, Osaka winning the match was almost a sure thing, anyway. She was in control the entire match.)

        Her big criticism is about the first warning she received. She felt like, if she had been a man, she would not have received a warning for that. It is true that men never get violations for coaching, but it's also true that women never get violations for coaching, either.

        11 votes
  2. Shahriar
    Link
    I'm not a big tennis viewer, but you really have to feel bad for Osaka, she should not have been treated like this by the crowd despite the hate for the umpire. Here's the trophy ceremony, and you...

    I'm not a big tennis viewer, but you really have to feel bad for Osaka, she should not have been treated like this by the crowd despite the hate for the umpire. Here's the trophy ceremony, and you can see Serena console her.

    9 votes