Sally Abdul Khalek

Feature Editor

Naomi Osaka won the final match in the U.S. Open against the undefeated Serena Williams. It was an emotional match as an accusation of sexism overshadowed the win of Osaka, the first tennis player to be born in Japan and win the Grand Slam championship.
Osaka defeated Williams, her childhood idol, in  6-2, 6-4, blocking Williams from getting a record-tying 24th major singles title. The match’s umpire, Carlos Ramos, exchanged a couple of words with Williams and issued three penalties against her in the second set. The first penalty was given to Williams for supposedly receiving instructions from her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, which is against the rules. Mouratoglou later admitted that he was coaching during the game.
“That’s what umpires do all year,” Mouratoglou said, “and it would have ended there, and we would have avoided a drama that was totally avoidable.”
Williams was offended that she would be accused of cheating and demanded an apology from the umpire. After losing one of the games, she threw her racket on the floor out of anger, resulting in receiving her second penalty. At the end of the game, Williams called Ramos a thief for taking a point away from her, resulting in the loss of the game.
The U.S. Tennis Association fined Williams $17,000 for her outburst which caused the three penalties during her controversial game. After the game, she talked about her actions at the game and why she did what she did while on the court in an interview.
“I can’t sit here and say I wouldn’t say he’s a thief because I thought he took a game from me,” Williams said. “I’ve seen other men call other umpires several things. 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.’ For me, it blows my mind, but I’m going to continue to fight for women and to fight for us to have equal coordination — to be able to take our shirt off on the court without getting a fine. This is outrageous.”
After the U.S. Open, the Melbourne’s Herald Sun Australian cartoonist, Mark Knight, published his reaction to the game. In the cartoon, Knight mocks the exchange that went on between Williams and Ramos on the court during the game. He portrays Williams as a child throwing a tantrum as the Umpire asks Osaka, “Can you just let her win.” The cartoonist is being criticized for the way he caricatured both finalists. Some critics say Osaka looks like a small, white woman as Knight gave her light skin, a thin frame, and blonde hair. Knight was confronted on Twitter about not treating male players the same way.
“Don’t bring gender into it when it’s all about behavior,” Knight said.
People continue to criticize umpire Ramos as well as Williams for what had gone down during the game.
“I both think they were at fault and they both could have done things to prevent the situation,” junior Hannah Barton said.
Whether the umpire was right in his decisions is still unclear as many remarks on the way it happened are still being questioned.
“I feel like there was a misunderstanding between the two. If they both talked about the penalties more, it could have been avoided,” Barton said.

Serena Williams has officially wrapped up her 2018 season as she has withdrawn from the China Open in Beijing. Naomi Osaka has also withdrawn from the China Open as she is dealing with an illness and will not be able to continue. The China Open will continue with the nine Grand Slam champions left. Hopefully next year both Williams and Osaka will be returning once the season starts up again.