Serena IS owed an apology...but from her coach who admitted to coaching from the stands...after she swore up and down there was no coaching going on. I've heard the arguement that "all coaches do it" well clearly this day..he got caught and SHE got penalized..whether she saw him or not.
Serena Williams
- Thread starter emmuna
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Oh please! Who here wouldn’t be pissed off if accused of doing doing something you didn’t do?! Throw in the adrenaline and the highly competitive environment and it’s a recipe for flipping out. You must have never been an athlete if you don’t understand that combination.
Naomi Osaka was the better player that day - she would have won with or without the game penalty. They had a great game plan and she executed really well. Having Sascha Bajin, Serena Williams’ former long-term hitting partner, as coach must have helped: I’m sure he told Naomi all of Serena’s tendencies.
Based on the way she played, I’m betting Naomi Osaka will win more slams, so I hope this experience recedes and becomes overtaken by more positive memories. She really deserved better.
I agree that Osaka was on her way to winning decisively, but I was watching the match with the faint glimmer of hope that Serena would make a comeback. She was doing a little better and seemed to be getting some momentum when code violations and arguing destroyed the remainder of the set.
2) It was a terrible time for the umpire to give out a code violation. He really shouldn't have been giving them out at all in a Grand Slam final unless the violation was undeniably egregious. And the timing of it - towards the end of a high-stakes final as she was losing and trying to get her momentum back - of course she was going to be upset. Any player would. The most even-tempered of champions would still probably muff a game trying to get their concentration back, which is why the umpire did a disservice to everyone, viewers included.
What I find so interesting about this whole situation is the complexity. But I'm not here for pretending that Serena never committed any violations at all and was viciously socked with an unprecedented punishment simply because she politely asked an umpire for an apology. That's not what happened.
Like I said - I don't see the need to be so all or nothing about this.
1) She did do it, and her coach admitted it, so that's not even an issue
2) It was a terrible time for the umpire to give out a code violation. He really shouldn't have been giving them out at all in a Grand Slam final unless the violation was undeniably egregious. And the timing of it - towards the end of a high-stakes final as she was losing and trying to get her momentum back - of course she was going to be upset. Any player would. The most even-tempered of champions would still probably muff a game trying to get their concentration back, which is why the umpire did a disservice to everyone, viewers included.
What I find so interesting about this whole situation is the complexity. But I'm not here for pretending that Serena never committed any violations at all and was viciously socked with an unprecedented punishment simply because she politely asked an umpire for an apology. That's not what happened.
Like I said - I don't see the need to be so all or nothing about this.
This. Mistakes and errors of judgement were made on both sides.
You should be able to post your opinion here just as anyone else does as this is a purse form and not a specialist tennis website where only those intimately involved with the sport are allowed to provide insight. In fact, even in the tennis fraternity there is divided opinion as we have seen to-date. Not everyone watching and enjoying tennis is expected to be an expert on tennis. Your opinion did not really focus on tennis rules, rather sportmanship and behaviour and everyone is allowed to have an opinion on that.
Now my two cents. I like Serena. I think she's a great athlete, who has had hard to work twice as hard to get to where she's at, including winning over the fans, as she was not always the most popular. Even at the height of her sports career, she did not have the corresponding biggest sponsorships because not all sponsors felt that she represented the ideal "look/shape/image" to sell their product. This has since changed in the last few years and all kudos to Selena for going out there and grafting it year after year.
Regarding the incident. Firstly, tennis is a sport which has rules and officials are there to enforce the rules - whether you're a millionaire or not. However, let's suppose Serena was correct and Carlos Ramos was wrong - then with regard to the rules of tennis and its regulations, Serena has won on the tennis court.
But let's not forget what we saw - worldwide and watched by millions. Serena, overwrought, yelling abuse at the umpire, pointing her finger at him, telling him he would never officiate in a court of hers' again, throwing down her racket, losing it and at the end of the day making the eventual champion Naomi Osaka feel like she had to apologise for winning. In my opinion, Serena may have won on the tennis court but lost big in the court of sportsmanlike behaviour and public opinion.
Sportspeople have an enormous impact on people. They inspire and move people to both good and destructive behaviour. It is their responsibility to show restraint, respect for the game, and the opponent.
No one is bigger than the game.
That said, I do feel for Serena. I don’t want her legacy to be marred by this.
Like has been stated before, Serena is a professional tennis player and has been on the tour since 1995, 22 years. Every professional sport is filled with super competitive people who are under great stress, with high adrenaline running through their veins. That's normal for the job profession, Pro Athlete. Should they all be flipping out every time they are unhappy with a call? Of course not. Most sports, you would get kicked out of the game, if you verbally go after the officials . Personally I think tennis is too soft on the players when they have these breakdowns/temper tantrums.
There are prima donnas in every sport that try to push the rules to the extreme and beyond and I don't support them. I think their fame, fortune, talent and whatever else (surrounded by people always telling them they can do no wrong perhaps), their ego inflates to the size of the sky. They are not heroes to me.
Op-ed by Martina Navratilova for The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/opinion/martina-navratilova-serena-williams-us-open.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/opinion/martina-navratilova-serena-williams-us-open.html
I will say, Over the years, I've noticed a few threads in here on male tennis players and I've never seen those threads so busy with people talking about when they freak out. Even in the media, all the examples of males flipping thier sh*t mentioned in regards to Serena, I had no idea about. But I certainly know about Serena's.
This is McEnroe’s most famous outburst. He called the umpire “jerk”. He was penalized. He was booed by the crowd (him, not the umpire, not his competitor). I remember when he came out. His outbursts were highly publicized in the press. There were no excuses made for them though. Many people came to be very fond of him and he was entertaining, aside of a great player, but he was never considered a role model.
It is true that since him, tennis players seem to be given more leeway than other professional sportsmen I their behaviour towards referees. Still, the reaction of Serena was exceptionally bad by any standard.
I'm aware of who he is. I feel he's an exception cause he got upset A LOT! I grew up watching him and in a way, that was part of his draw...his "passion". But that was 35 years ago, and is kind of pointless to bring up. Again, I'm referring to more recent outbursts by men. So let's try to address those specifically.
I also disagree that Serena's reaction was exceptionally bad by any standard...especially when we have recent examples of men flipping out that don't seem the garner the same vitriol.
From what I can tell, no male tennis players have been discussed on this board since 2009 and 2012 and then it was brief.
Serena is a huge celebrity and her celebrity goes far beyond the tennis world. Her thread here is 42 pages long and was active in the days and months leading up to this incident. To not discuss this incident would actually require this board to *stop* talking about her and ignore this major piece of news about her.
And it's just this board - Serena is in the media all the time. Usually it's gushy stuff about her husband and her baby and her comeback from giving birth and how she's GOAT or things she's tweeted or posted on instagram. But when people pay attention to the good, they also pay attention to the controversial.
Given how much money and adulation she gets from her celebrity status, I don't see cause for outrage over the fact that people find a newsworthy incident that took place at a major sporting event interesting.
John McEnroe received a lot of adulation from his celeb status and he was a huge celeb outside of tennis as well. He raked in millions from endorsements and IIRC he's still tops the list of the highest paid tennis player even though he no longer plays. His outburst were marketed and helped ticket sales. The only difference is the lack of the internet during his peak fame and he's a man.
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