For me, it's about sportsmanship, or sportswomanship in this case, and the forgotten person in all this. Someone else was involved. Naomi Osaka had her day ruined by two people who lack emotional self-control. I actually don't give a damn about which of them was "wrong." They were both wrong.
It's a game, people. The only person who kept that in perspective was Ms. Osaka. She was the only person involved who was chiefly interested in tennis. If this empire indulged in selective enforcement because of some bias, either explicit or subconscious, against Ms. Williams, then he was wrong. However, in no world is it okay to physically smash your racket in anger. I know others have done it, they were wrong too, no matter what punishment was faced or not faced.
In no world is it okay to accuse an umpire, during the game, of behaving as a thief. I know "thief" is a "nice" word, but it demeans character, particularly when used as a metaphor (the umpire was in the chair the who time, nothing was stolen) for enforcement of the rules which properly and deliberately rely upon an umpire's judgment. Judgment is exactly that. Facts are not involved. It's a decision a person makes so a rule can be enforced or ignored.
The umpire was doing his job, and his job will involve sometimes getting it wrong. It's still his job.
Nothing about the role of a player properly involves insulting an umpire, and you can shove your pithy observations John Mcenroe up your ass. I'm a boomer, I watched him play too. A famous example of a person behaving badly is irrelevant. It's not context. An umpire is not asked to take the history of tennis into consideration when making judgment calls during a match.
So, Ms. Williams and the umpire indulge in this childless, ridiculous, pointless tirade while the person who deserves all of the attention, and the credit, is across the net dissolving into tears, being traumatized in a particularly irksome way.
Someone seriously make the assertion that Serena Williams cannot spot a 20-year old, mid-ranked player a game and a point and not still have a chance of winning the match. Seriously? Come on. Maybe it wasn't fair, maybe it was wrong, but it was not worth ruining Ms. Osaka's day over it. Get yourself together and play tennis.
Ms. Williams was getting beat, badly, by a player who had studied her and figured out how to beat her. This badly interfered with what was supposed to be her crowning moment of glory. New child, new husband, new Nike ads, Ms. Williams was supposed to triumphantly return to regain her place at the head of women's tennis after childbirth, a victory not only for her but for mothers everywhere!
She wasn't good enough. She lost her cool. She felt she was robbed of something much larger than a point and a game. She just lacked the self-awareness to realize that. Ms. Osaka beat her in exactly the same way others will in the coming months and years as she clings to a level of performance that has ended, or will end, just as they all do for everyone. That story is so common in sports it is banal.
Ms. Osaka just stood there as a human being, letting us all know what it is like when two bullies take over your situation and make it their own. I cried so much. I cried for her mother too, it must have been awful to sit there in the stands and watch all that.
I cry for her today, She won the US Open, the first Japanese person to do so, and it's all about Serena and her crusading, as a multi-millionaire with the multi-billionaire husband, for the plight of poor aggrieved women of color everywhere. Well, folks, she shit all over a woman of color yesterday and no one seems to notice. There's clearly work to be done. She's right about that, but she should start with the person she sees in the mirror.
Yes, she hugged her and tried to make it okay She asked people to stop booing her (fuck you, US Open crowd). Blah, blah, blah. She had a chance to make it about tennis when she broke her racket. Just take the game and play. Ms. Wiliams, you had a chance to remind everyone of priorities and perspective, instead you went with defending your ego.
But, I think she knew she was going to lose. I did. So, screw tennis. Screw her opponent. There's been a miscarriage of tennis justice and the world has to be made right, now!
Classless, utterly classless.
