At the 2018 U.S. Open championship, Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese player, male or female, to win the final. However, her celebratory day was overshadowed by her opponent: Serena Williams. Williams was defeated in two sets, but it was how she lost that caused so much controversy.
Williams was given three violations throughout the match by umpire Carlos Ramos. The first was for a coaching violation, which is when a player receives any type of communication from their coach. The second violation was for smashing her racket, and the last was for another coaching violation.
The coaching violations started everything.
“If he gives me a thumbs up, he’s telling me to come on,” Williams said to Ramos during the second set of the televised match. “We don’t have a code and I know you don’t know that and I understand that you may have thought that was coaching, but I’m telling you it’s not. I don’t cheat to win. I’d rather lose.”
During the second match, Williams reached her breaking point and broke her racket. After Osaka took a 4-3 lead in the second set, Williams scolded Ramos for judging her character and accusing her of cheating. She also kept asking for Ramos to apologize.
“I explained that to you, and for you to attack my character, it’s wrong,” Williams said during a break in the second set during the televised match. “It’s wrong. You’re attacking my character. You will never ever be on another court of mine as long as you live. You are the liar. You owe me an apology.”
Before heading to her side of the court, Williams called Ramos a “thief” and received her third and final violation, costing her a game penalty. She then asked for the head of the umpire committee’s assistance. She expressed that they were wrong for giving her a game penalty. She also said that men have said and done worse things to other umpires, especially to Ramos, and not been penalized for it. After a long conversation, Williams was still given a game penalty, which gave Osaka a 5-3 lead in the second set. Osaka beat Williams 6-2 in the first set, and 6-4 in the second set.
Around the world, people have been supporting Williams for standing up for what she knew what was right. Tennis legend Billie Jean King was one of the first to respond to what happened. She explained that there is a double standard for women who play tennis.
“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she is penalized,” King said in a tweet. “When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ and there are no repercussions. Thank you for [Serena Williams] for calling out this double standard. More voices need to do the same.”
Retired tennis player James Blake also showed support for Williams.
“I will admit I have said worse and not gotten penalized,” Blake said in a tweet. “And I’ve also been given a ‘soft warning’ by the ump where they tell you knock it off or [they] will have to give you a violation. He should have at least given her that courtesy. Sad to mark a well played final that way.”
Williams said that sexism was the main reason that she was given a game penalty by Ramos. After the match, she explained her comment during the press conference.
“I have seen other men call other umpires several things and I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff,” Williams said. “For me to say thief and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was sexist remark.”
Everyone is responsible for what they said and did during the match. Ramos was wrong for giving Williams a game penalty for calling him a “thief” when male tennis players have said worse to umpires.
However, Williams should’ve handled the situation better. Calling Ramos a “thief” did not help; it only made things worse. In addition, bringing up women’s equality, women’s rights and her daughter did not help her argument. She should have stuck to the match and focused on the match only, not politics.
There is a double standard when it comes to women not only in sports, but in all aspects of life. However, bringing up those types of issues during the match created more issues.
Osaka won the match, but she was overshadowed by everything. That’s not right for her. A little bit of her joy was taken away from her because of something that someone else did.
At the end of the day, this match takes nothing away from Williams. She will always be a champion in our eyes. When the crowd booed during the trophy ceremony, she hugged Osaka and started to cry in shame. Even though she won a runner-up prize of $1.85 million, Williams showed the true characteristics of a champion.