Naomi Osaka of Japan, lifting her first grand slam trophy

The 2018 US Open Women’s final got over around 15 hours ago and it has been a wild ride of emotions, responses and backlash among fans, players, pundits and officials.

To those of you in the dark, Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams began their battle to win the 2018 US Open. The first set saw some extraordinary tennis from Osaka, who broke Serena’s serve twice and clinched the set at 6–2. If the first set was bad, the second set was worse for Williams. Things went downhill, and they went downhill fast. Serena was issued 3 code violations, the third of which led to her getting docked a game in the penultimate game of the match, ensuing a lot of drama, tears, booing and a divided tennis fraternity. Let’s take a look at how it all took place.

Note: The below section is a very detailed walkthrough of how the situation unravelled. If you’ve seen the match and/or know the sequence of events thoroughly, I’d urge you to skip to the analysis section. Regardless, I’ve highlighted all the important bits in bold to help paint the general sequence of events.

How it happened

The first code violation

Tension started when the umpire, Carlos Ramos, issued Williams a code violation for getting coached in the second game of the second set. Immediately after, Williams approached Ramos’ chair, saying “He was just giving me a thumbs up, we don’t have any code and I know you don’t know that and I understand why you may have thought that that was coaching, but I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose, I’m just letting you know”.

During the changeover, Williams called for the umpire again.

“Again, I can see where you’re coming from, but I want to be clear, I’ve never gotten a coaching violation because I don’t do it”, to which Ramos said “I can understand your reaction as well” and “I know that” when Serena said “I don’t cheat”. Things seemed well, they thanked each other and Williams went to her side of the court.

The second code violation

Williams had broken the Osaka serve to get to a 3–1 lead. However, she was immediately broken back, which led to Williams smashing her racquet. Ramos issued a second code violation for racquet abuse, which is automatic. According to the rules, a player is docked a point for their second code violation, which is exactly what happened. Cue more exchanges between Ramos and Williams.

Williams arguing with the Chair Umpire; Carlos Ramos

“This is unbelievable. Every time I play here I have problems. Why (was a point was docked)?” Inaudible reply from Ramos. “Yeah, that’s a warning”. Ramos’ next sentence is inaudible (but he did mouth the word coaching, which is probably him giving an explanation that her first code violation was for coaching). Williams retorts “I didn’t get coaching x4” and “You need to make an announcement that I didn’t get coaching. I don’t cheat, I don’t get coaching. How can you say that? You need to- you owe me an apology, I have never cheated in my life. I have a daughter and I stand for what’s right for her. I have never cheated. You owe me an apology”.

The crowd starts booing, and Williams raises her hands, indicating that she wants the crowd to stop booing.

The third code violation

Osaka broke Williams’ serve to go up 4–3 in the second, during which there was another changeover. Williams was fuming and almost immediately after sitting down started arguing with Ramos. A few of the initial sentences are inaudible, but the microphone picked up this:

“For you to attack my character, it’s wrong. It’s wrong, you’re attacking my character. Yes, you are, you owe me an apology. You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live. You’re the liar.”

At this point, Ramos blinks his eyes, seemingly in disbelief and slinks back into his chair and looks the other way.

“When are you going to give me my apology? You owe me an apology. Say it, say you’re sorry”, followed by another inaudible reply from Ramos, after which Williams says “Well then don’t talk to me. Don’t talk to me”, after which Ramos says “okay” and looks away again.

“How dare you insinuate that I was cheating? You stole a point from me, you’re a thief, too”.

Ramos issued a third code violation for verbal abuse, because of which Williams lost an entire game. After a moment of confusion, Ramos called Osaka to the net, informed her that Williams has been given a game penalty and asked for the balls to be shifted to the other side of the court.

Post third code violation

“Are you kidding me x2. Because I said you’re a thief? Because you stole a point from me? But I’m not a cheater. But I told you to apologize to me. This is, this is out- excuse me, I need the referee”, after which the tournament referee, Brian Earley and WTA supervisor Donna Kelso made their way into the court.

Initially speaking to Kelso, she fumed, “This is not fair. This is not right. I mean, I called him a thief and he took a point from me (slip of tongue, he took a game from her). He said I was being coached, but I wasn’t being coached. That’s not right. You know me. You know my character. This is not fair, this has happened to me too many times.”

Brian Earley then joined in after listening to the umpire’s side of the issue as Williams continued.

Brian Earley, the tournament referee listening to an angry Serena Williams

“Do you know how many men do much worse than that? This is not fair, there are a lot of men out here who have said a lot of things but because they are men, it doesn’t happen to them.”

“Because I’m a woman, because I’m a woman, you’re going to take this away from me? I know you cannot admit it, but you know it’s not right. I know you can’t change it, but this is not right. I know the rules, but this is not right. For this to happen to me every single year at this tournament. That’s all I have to say”

After the match

Immediately after embracing Osaka, Serena again went at Ramos, without shaking his hand, asking for an apology.

As soon as the trophy ceremony began, fans started booing loudly when Tom Rinaldi began speaking. Osaka covered her face with her cap and began sobbing as Serena comforted her. This booing continued until Serena addressed the crowd and its booing directly.

A sobbing Osaka being comforted by Williams

“She played well and this is her first grand slam(victory). I know you guys were here rooting and I was rooting too but let's make this the best moment we can and we’ll get through it and let’s give everyone credit where credit is due and let’s not boo anymore, we’re going to get through this, let’s be positive. Congratulations, Naomi”.

Analysis

“I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose, I’m just letting you know.”

This is almost objectively a lie. Her coach seemed to have signalled her to approach the net, she was clearly looking at him and in the next few points, that’s precisely what she did: approach the net. Doesn’t seem like Ramos was in the wrong here. Why did this bother Williams so much if it’s almost objectively clear that she did, in fact, get coached? Not only that but her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, even admitted that he was, in fact, coaching her.

Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, admitted to coaching her

While Williams reacted with shock to Mouratoglou statement, it doesn’t take away from what happened. Besides, Williams was clearly looking at him while he was coaching her to go to the net; how else would she know that he was giving her “a thumbs up” (Mouratoglou denied that Williams looked at him, going as far as suggesting that Osaka’s coach was giving her advice as well).

What I’m struggling with is why Serena didn’t move on from this and focus on her game instead. In a sport like tennis where you have to be at a 100% focus to win points and matches, allowing a code violation to affect her so much is amateurish and childish. Arguing tooth and nail for it was completely pointless too: as Williams herself said, the call can’t be changed. Then why the constant need to argue and demand an apology?

Beefs with umpires happen all the time, players as focused and calm as Nadal and Federer have argued with umpires on multiple occasions. Federer even dropped an F-bomb (Don’t f***ing tell me the rules) during the 2009 US Open final, but it's important to note that he never directed a personal insult towards the umpire, which is exactly what Williams did and which is why she was docked a game.

According to the rule book, verbal abuse constitutes “a statement about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or other person that implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise abusive.”

Calling someone a liar and a thief comes well under those categories, so again, Ramos wasn’t in the wrong at all: He was just following the rules. Yes, he has a history of being stricter than most other umpires, but he was sticking to the rules and doing his job. Besides, even the definition of the rulebook is very fair to both parties: If you get personal and insult the umpire, prepare to face consequences. The timing of this coincided with it being her third code violation, so she lost a game.

Her second code violation was the least controversial. It’s an automatic violation and there’s little that can be argued over it.

“Because I’m a woman, because I’m a woman, you’re going to take this away from me? There are a lot of men out here who have said a lot of things but because they are men, it doesn’t happen to them.”

I fail to see why gender even plays an issue over here. Men do not have it easier than women when it comes to code violations. John McEnroe got the same code violation for saying “Answer the question, jerk!” in Stockholm in 1984. In 1995, Jeff Tarango got an “audible obscenity” warning for retorting “Shut up!” to hecklers asking him to go home. (His wife went on to slap the umpire, just FYI, but that’s because tensions escalated and Tarango forfeited).

Speaking of the same umpire, he issued a code violation to Novak Djokovic in last year’s French Open because he raised his racquet in a threatening motion towards him. He didn’t say a word. Still got a violation. Andy Murray got the same verbal abuse code violation for saying “stupid umpiring” (there’s a conflict between the two accounts, with Ramos insisting that Murray said “stupid umpire”). Ramos is a strict umpire and his conduct has little to do with gender, or even worse, race as some of Williams’ fans seemed to be insinuating.

Carlos Ramos has made some hard calls on both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the past

Aside from the fact that men don’t get leniency, I fail to see why there’s a need to draw parallels with men- Why should her poor attitude towards others somehow be considered alright because some men have (allegedly) done worse? Why doesn’t Williams focus more on being the best she can be?

“You know me. You know my character”

Since Williams brought up her character, let’s dig deep: These were the exact same referees who were also present during her 2009 US Open Semi-Final meltdown in her match against Kim Clijsters where she threatened to shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat. Further, she even refused to apologize for her remarks, saying:

“An apology from me? How many people yell at linespeople? I see it happening all the time. I don’t know how many times I have seen that happen. I am a professional. I’m not the beggar, like, ‘Please, please, please, let me have another chance,’ because it was the rules and I play by the rules.”

In 2009, Williams threatened to shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat. She’s talking to the exact same pair of referees from today. She got 2 years of probation for this outburst and refused to apologize for it.

Then there’s also her rant in the 2011 US Open final against Samantha Stosur, where she called the umpire “a loser, a hater and unattractive on the inside”.

The absolute worst of all, however, was when she criticized a 16-year-old rape victim. An excerpt:

“Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don’t know. I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you — don’t take drinks from other people. She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously, I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.”

Character.

Entitlement

“I have a daughter and I stand for what’s right for her”.

“We’re going to get through this, let’s be positive”

“You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live”

There’s little relevance of the fact that Williams is a mother and there’s no discernible reason for her to bring it up during a tennis match. There’s also a large sense of entitlement that followed when Williams stated that Ramos would never umpire any match of hers ever again. Besides, Williams does not have the power to do so. Her constant demands of an apology followed by coarse threats and jarring jibes are contradictory: there’s little sense in what she did. Was it a heat of the moment situation? Absolutely. Can it be excused? Absolutely not. Williams is a veteran of the tour, one of the greatest ever to grace the sport, no doubt, but her behaviour was astonishingly crass and juvenile.

Then there’s the assumption that somehow everyone in the crowd is in her side and that they’re all fighting some autocratic, evil demon who’s out to get to her and whoever is with her. She’s really pulling the victim card when tournaments are bending over backwards to ensure she gets seeded when she doesn’t have the ranking for it? Really?

Earlier at this year’s Wimbledon, Williams was seeded 25th despite being ranked 181 in the world. Her seeding for the US Open was also bumped from 26 to 17.

Why does she get preferential treatment?

When will entitled people like her realise that the world doesn’t revolve around them? And that actions have their consequences and if you don’t like them, well too bad, face the heat.

“I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff. For me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief.”

She’s fighting for herself. Branding Ramos a sexist is such a stretch. And none of her male counterparts ever called an umpire a thief, and they’ve always been punished accordingly for saying or doing something wrong.

Is this to say that Ramos hasn’t been strict? Yes, he has. Several prominent people summed up both sides of the argument incredibly well. Martina Navratilova, a former Czech player and one of the greats, did a fantastic job with this editorial for the New York Times, while Novak Djokovic also maintained that the onus is on both Williams and Ramos, and to an extent it’s easy to sympathise with that viewpoint because the severity of the code violation penalties were extensive, not to mention at which stage (grand slam final) they were implemented.

On a personal note, Williams should have faced heavy consequences. The fine she received for her conduct ($17,000 out of her $1.85 million) was pocket change. Moreover, the way Osaka was treated by the fans of New York was despicable. No one deserves to win their first slam the way Osaka did.