New balls please: It all kicked off at last night’s US Opens women’s final – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

New balls please: It all kicked off at last night’s US Opens women’s final




Forget the tennis, it was more like a soap opera last night in Flushing Meadows.

The US Open women’s final saw one of the best tennis players of all time, Serena Williams take on a young lady who said she was her idol growing up, Japan’s Naomi Osaka.

The 20-yr-old outclassed Williams almost from word go, taking the first set easily appearing to have nerves of steel and groundstrokes to match.

But it wasn’t until the second set that things really got going.

Umpire Carlos Ramos claimed Williams was getting coaching from the stands, illegal in tennis, and called her out on it with a warning, then a subsequent warning for breaking her racket, and finally deducting a game from Williams at a break and 4-3 down in the second set.

Tears followed a tirade from Williams towards the umpire.

Osaka went on to serve it out with massively powerful strokes to win 6-4 6-2.

The New York crowd booed right through the presentation ceremony, but eventually clapped Osaka when she literally apologised for winning – no, really!

Social media is rife with debate, but many believe the umpire was right and that Serena’s behaviour has finally caught up with her. Others said there was a double standard for men and women.

While almost everyone agreed that the crowd was a disgrace and should have applauded the young Japanese woman for her amazing effort.

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