Serena Williams may have made a lot of ‘winning statements’ in her recent matches with her rule-breaking, controversy-creating outfit choices (read more about it here), but the legendary Tennis champion’s finale match at the US Open did not end that positively.
The star-player was playing against Japan’s Naomi Osaka, when some of the decisions by the match’s umpire upset her so much that she ended up calling him a ‘thief’ and ‘liar’ in the middle of the match – pointing her finger at him in an emotional outburst.
This led to Williams losing one point against Osaka, who was giving a tough competition to Williams nevertheless, and the latter ended up winning the match – and the championship. The point was taken on ground of the ‘three-code violations’ during her match, which included – breaking her racket, getting coaching signals and calling the chair umpire a thief.
The intensity and tension on the ground only multiplied when Oska came to receive her winning trophy and the crowd, obviously moved by William’s loss, started chanting ‘boos’ at her.
A moved Serena Williams then urged the crowd to try to move on from what had happened and congratulate the rising athlete on her remarkable win, as both Williams and Oska wept on-stage.
“At one point, I felt bad because I’m crying and she’s crying and I’m not sure if those are happy tears…I was thinking this definitely wasn’t how I felt when I won my first grand slam.” –@serenawilliams on embracing @Naomi_Osaka_ over #USOpen Final
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) September 8, 2018
Naomi – who was obviously affected after the crowd’s reaction, ended up apologizing to everyone for how things ended, even though in all fairness, she wasn’t at fault.
I know that everyone was cheering for her and I’m sorry it had to end like this. I just want to say thank you for watching the match. It was always my dream to play Serena in the US Open finals so I’m really glad I was able to do that.
From boos to cheers. An emotional and powerful moment for Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams at the US Open podium. (🔊⬆️) pic.twitter.com/oTg6SORjXe
— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2018
It was a powerful and deeply emotional moment in the sport – that has yet again given rise to several debates online, as Williams has also accused the umpire of ‘sexism’ for allegedly treating her more harshly and unfairly than the men in the game.