{"id":2019,"date":"2018-09-10T02:36:12","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T02:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/?p=2019"},"modified":"2018-09-10T02:36:12","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T02:36:12","slug":"serena-williamss-us-open-final-breakdown-blow-by-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/?p=2019","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams’s US Open final breakdown blow-by-blow"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Open final devolved into farce after Serena Williams took odds with the umpire’s treatment of her.<\/p>\n

It took sheen away from 20-year-old Naomi Osaka beating her idol to claim hers and Japan’s first major title, but there were a lot of moving parts.<\/p>\n

So, what the hell happened?<\/p>\n

First violation: Coaching (warning)<\/p>\n

Having already lost the first set 6-2, Williams was warned for receiving coaching from her box after the first game of the second set.<\/p>\n

Coach Patrick Mouratoglou later admitted to ESPN he “was 100 per cent coaching”, but Williams was indignant, telling umpire Carlos Ramos that Mouratoglou had only given her a thumbs up and that was not some secret code.<\/p>\n

“I know you don’t know that and I understand why you thought that was coaching but I’m telling you it’s not,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose. I’m just letting you know.”<\/p>\n

Compared to what was to come, that was pretty chilled out.<\/p>\n

Second violation: Racquet abuse (point penalty)<\/p>\n

While leading 3-2 in the second set, Williams was surprised to hear she was starting the game down 15-0 after receiving a second code violation for smashing her racquet.<\/p>\n

She had been docked a point by Ramos in accordance with the International Tennis Federation’s penalty schedule, which says the first code violation is a warning and the second is a point penalty.<\/p>\n

The same thing happened to her during the 2009 US Open semifinal against Kim Clijsters, when she had been warned for smashing a racquet and then penalised a point (which happened to be match point) for threatening a lineswoman who foot-faulted her.<\/p>\n

This time, Williams seemed confused as Ramos explained the situation.<\/p>\n

“This is unbelievable. Every time I play here I have problems,” she said.<\/p>\n

“What? That’s a warning. I didn’t get coaching. I didn’t get coaching. I didn’t get coaching. You need to make an announcement that I didn’t get coaching.<\/p>\n

“I don’t cheat. I didn’t get coaching. How can you say that? You need to \u2026 you owe me an apology. You owe me an apology. I have NEVER cheated in my life!<\/p>\n

“I have a daughter and I stand for what’s right for her and I never cheated. You owe me an apology. You will never do another one of my matches!”<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Whoa. But it’s probably over, right?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Third violation: Verbal abuse (game penalty)<\/p>\n

    While Osaka was preparing to serve with a 4-3 lead, Williams resumed her attack on Ramos from her chair.<\/p>\n

    “I explained that [I wasn’t getting coaching] to you and for you to attack my character \u2026 it’s wrong. You’re attacking my character. Yes, you are,” she said.<\/p>\n

    “You owe me an apology. You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live. You are the liar.<\/p>\n

    “When are you going to give me my apology? You owe me an apology. Say it, say you’re sorry.”<\/p>\n

    No apology was forthcoming.<\/p>\n

    “Well then don’t talk to me. Don’t talk to me,” she said.<\/p>\n

    “You stole a point from me, you’re a thief too.”<\/p>\n

    As ridiculous as it sounds, this is when things got really ugly.<\/p>\n

    “Code violation. Verbal abuse. Game penalty, Mrs Williams,” came the announcement from Ramos.<\/p>\n

    Williams laughed but she clearly wasn’t seeing the funny side.<\/p>\n

    “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Because I said you’re a thief? Because you stole a point from me,” she said.<\/p>\n

    “But I’m not a cheater. But I told you to apologise to me. This is out \u2026 Excuse me, I need the referee.”<\/p>\n

    ‘Because I’m a woman, you’re gonna take this away from me?’<\/p>\n

    Enter tournament director Brian Earley and WTA supervisor Donna Kelso.<\/p>\n

    While Earley spoke to Ramos, Williams was almost in tears as she defended herself to Kelso.<\/p>\n

    “This is not right. This is not right. I mean, I called him a thief because he stole a point from me because I never cheated,” she said.<\/p>\n

    “He said I was being coached and I wasn’t being coached. That’s not right. That is not right. You know me, you know my character and that’s not right. This is not fair.<\/p>\n

    “This has happened to me too many times. This is not fair. This is not fair. To lose a game for saying that is not fair. It’s really not.”<\/p>\n

    Then to Earley.<\/p>\n

    “You know how many other men do things that are \u2026 much worse than that. This is not fair,” she said.<\/p>\n

    “There’s a lot of men out here that have said a lot of things and because they are men, that doesn’t happen to them.”<\/p>\n

    Earley explained that she knew the risk she was taking by abusing the umpire after having already received two violations.<\/p>\n

    “No, I don’t know the risk because if I say a simple thing \u2014 a thief because he stole a point from me \u2014 that does not make \u2026 there are men out here that do a lot worse,” she said.<\/p>\n

    “But because I’m a woman, because I’m a woman, you’re gonna take this away from me? That is not right.<\/p>\n

    “You know it, and I know you can’t admit it, but I know you know it’s not right. I know you can’t change it but I’m just saying that’s not right.<\/p>\n

    “I get the rules, I get the rules but I’m just saying it’s not right. And it happened to me at this tournament every single year that I play. It’s just not fair. That’s all I have to say. That’s not fair.”<\/p>\n

    Williams powered through her next service game, winning to love, before Osaka showed remarkable composure to serve out the match.<\/p>\n

    The fury bled into the crowd, which booed during the trophy presentation. Williams called for calm and put her arm around a distraught Osaka, but the damage was done.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The US Open final devolved into farce after Serena Williams took odds with the umpire’s treatment of her. It took sheen away from 20-year-old Naomi Osaka beating her idol to claim hers and Japan’s first major title, but there were a lot of moving parts. So, what the hell happened? First violation: Coaching (warning) Having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,54,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-important-news","category-sports"],"views":54,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2021,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions\/2021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworldinsight.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}