After Fines, Fighting, and Supposedly False Accusations, Serena Williams Hopes to “Just Recover”
In the aftermath of the Women’s U.S. Open Finals, the world had never heard silence quite so loud. And then, all at once, the glassy stillness was shattered to pieces. Opinions, arguments, and antagonism filled the tennis world as if they were blaring out of a megaphone. Serena Williams had just been defeated by Naomi Osaka, the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, and the loss was far from graceful. While Serena had everyone convinced, critics and fans alike, that she had grown and matured over the past five years after from emerging as a spokeswoman for racial and social issues to giving birth, her youthful drama days were not over.
By the time Williams’ groundbreaking match had ended at Flushing Meadows, she had smashed her racket on-court, been issued a warning for coaching, and had a fiery confrontation with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, all of which resulted in code violations.
Despite her allegations that she was not being told what to do from the sidelines, Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, openly admitted to giving her instruction. While speaking about her outburst in an interview on Network Ten, Williams maintained this defense. She also told The Sunday Project, “I just don't understand what he was talking about because I asked him, you weren't coaching, we don't have signals, we've never had signals -- and he said he made a motion.”
This coaching debate has reached a new realm of discussion. Williams claimed that a male player would not have been treated the same way she was after calling Ramos a “thief” and a “liar” for docking her a game. Now this has extended beyond tennis, as Serena has stumbled upon an extremely controversial topic: sexism.
However, the mention of sexism was unusually short brief. Instead of continuing to use her voice to speak out about every regulation that bars women from doing something that her male counterpart is wholly allowed to do, such as removing and replacing her shirt on the court, Serena simply employed the term ‘sexism’ when it benefitted her. She’s no Billie Jean King, as her feminism was short-lived and self serving. Not only did she disappoint the feminist community, but Serena also took away from an extremely important moment in tennis history: Naomi Osaka’s unprecedented win.
As the crowd booed the outcome of the match, Osaka admitted that she “ felt a little bit sad,” as she did not know if the audience was booing at her or if it just was not the outcome that they wanted. After she bested Williams, the trophy ceremony was filled with a loud, relentless crowd, which made Osaka feel as though she “had to apologize” for winning fairly.
The Women’s US Open Finals took an extreme turn on September 8th, and although this is an event that is plastered all over the news and in people’s minds, Serena Williams is hoping for the opposite effect. Despite being fined over $13,000, Williams is content to move on from the whole incident. “What I’m just trying to do most of all is to just recover from that,” she explained.
Hopefully, Serena makes peace with her loss and “recovers” well. However, the world should be more concerned with the fact that feminism can now be used as a cop-out in sports.
By Rose Sanders