OT: US Open

[HawkHusky]

I feel really bad for Osaka. She deserves the win without the controversy. Shame that an ump tainted the final.

 

[storrsroars]

I miss those days too, tennis was fun to watch then. McEnroe, Borg, Connors, Edberg, Llendl, Roscoe Tanner, Mats Wilander, Vitas Geruliatus were all fun to watch. Also miss Bud Collins, Donald Dell and Barry Mackay who teamed together on PBS to broadcast all the summer satellite tournaments, every week, in the US that led up to the Open.

Lendl, Edberg and Wilander were great players no doubt, but really not all that exciting to watch.

Now, throw in Ilie Nastase and you got something.

Osaka killing her interview, btw... very classy and smart how she's handling it.

 

[Ewekon]

I am taking the gag order on this one. Self evidence of class.

 

[huskyrob1]

I feel really bad for Osaka. She deserves the win without the controversy. Shame that an ump tainted the final.

The ump didn't taint the final, Serina Williams did. I thought her on court meltdowns in 2009 and 2011 were behind her, but I was wrong. In baseball if you argue with the ump and berate them, you're gone in 2 seconds. Shut up and play the game. A 36 year old grand champion of the game should have showed more class, especially toward her opponent who clearly out played her.

 

[Horatio]

The ump didn't taint the final, Serina Williams did. I thought her on court meltdowns in 2009 and 2011 were behind her, but I was wrong. In baseball if you argue with the ump and berate them, you're gone in 2 seconds. Shut up and play the game. A 36 year old grand champion of the game should have showed more class, especially toward her opponent who clearly out played her.

Whatever. The ump pulled some garbage out of his behind (that never gets called) at a
Crucial point in the match. I guess Serena was supposed to bite her tongue about it.
It was a stupid call. He deserved what he got. Some would’ve done far worse than what Serena did. Osaka will live.

 

[huskyrob1]

Whatever. The ump pulled some garbage out of his behind that never gets called at a
Crucial point in the match. I guess Serena was supposed to bite her tongue about it.
It was a stupid call. He deserved what he got. Some would’ve done far worse than what Serena did. Osaka will live.

It wasn't a crucial point in the match, she was losing badly, already had dropped the first set 6-2, and was struggling in the 2nd. So her coach starts giving her signals. What umpire is not going to give a first warning in that case? But Serina wouldn't quit, a smashed racket, a second warning and a one point penalty. Then 5 minutes of berating the ump for the docked point, abuse of the chair, a one game penalty.
Serina was an 18 wheeler out of control, even bumped Osaka as Osaka went to shake the Umps hand at the end of the match. But Whatever.

 

[Horatio]

It wasn't a crucial point in the match, she was losing badly, already had dropped the first set 6-2, and was struggling in the 2nd. So her coach starts giving her signals. What umpire is not going to give a first warning in that case? But Serina wouldn't quit, a smashed racket, a second warning and a one point penalty. Then 5 minutes of berating the ump for the docked point, abuse of the chair, a one game penalty.
Serina was an 18 wheeler out of control, even bumped Osaka as Osaka went to shake the Umps hand at the end of the match. But Whatever.

It was crucial for Williams. Has that kinda call been called before and was Serena even looking at the coach? It was a horrible call. Osaka was better and deserved to win regardless but it was a bad call.

 

[huskyrob1]

It was crucial for Williams. Has that kinda call been called before and was Serena even looking at the coach? It was a horrible call. Osaka was better and deserved to win regardless but it was a bad call.

I wouldn't call it a "horrible call" but will say he should have let it slide. He didn't though. Refs and Umps make bad calls all the time, but you can't argue with them, if you do you're gone. You suck it up and keep playing.

 

[mauconnfan]

One of my favorite jobs was Longwood club in chestnut hills. Oldest indoor tennis court in country

View attachment 34248

Ever run into Buddy Schultz in Chestnut Hills?

 

[Waquoit]

Her coach should have stopped after the 2nd warning.

 

[MadDogRevival]

maaah. I've always said Serena is a great athlete and the best woman tennis player of all time - was saying that a few years ago.
I don't know enough about the "coaches always coach" claim by Serena's coach to have an opinion on whether it was out of line, but . . . this umpire has been around a long time and has had issues with other players. Nadal, Djoker, Venus, all of them. The guy is a known "stickler" and has been accused of inserting himself into matches. Venus was accused by him of receiving coaching during a match.
So . . . Serena certainly knew all this and could easily have seen where it was going. Multiple warnings, she called him a thief, she broke her racket . . . .
Serena put the focus on the umpire because she was in trouble, and she knew it.
She was blown out in the 1st set 6-2. She has lost 4 of her last 6 major finals. In the 4 losses, she lost the first set. Three of those were 2 set matches. In the two wins, she won the first set, and they were 2 set matches.

To say that Serena was coming back or was knocked off her game by the ref seems like scapegoating by the goat.
She was hammered in the first set and lost 6-2.
She was up 3-1 in the 2nd set after getting her only break of the match, then Osaka broke her, causing her to smash her racket - the score is 3-2 Williams at that point. Osaka holds serve. 3-3. Osaka breaks Williams to go up 4-3.
At this point, Serena is being buried, has just lost 3 straight games, and Osaka is serving.
At this point Serena decides to call the Ref a thief and berate him.

Serena screwed up. She was losing and she knew she was going down. Instead of losing gracefully, she chose to focus attention on the Ref and essentially force his hand. Not a nice thing to do to Osaka, who deserved the win and the glory.

But hey, she's the GOAT because of her competitiveness, and she's earned the right to go off the rails. McEnroe was unbearable.

As for the "men get away with this thing"? Yeah, that's like Kevin Spacey playing the gay card when he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor - a huge red herring.
She's been playing professional tennis for 20 years. Complaining about gender inequality from the refs when she was clearly going down was disrespectful to Osaka.
And hey, you make the same money as the men while putting in 60% of the effort on the court, so quit crying.

 

[huskyrob1]

maaah. I've always said Serena is a great athlete and the best woman tennis player of all time - was saying that a few years ago.
I don't know enough about the "coaches always coach" claim by Serena's coach to have an opinion on whether it was out of line, but . . . this umpire has been around a long time and has had issues with other players. Nadal, Djoker, Venus, all of them. The guy is a known "stickler" and has been accused of inserting himself into matches. Venus was accused by him of receiving coaching during a match.
So . . . Serena certainly knew all this and could easily have seen where it was going. Multiple warnings, she called him a thief, she broke her racket . . . .
Serena put the focus on the umpire because she was in trouble, and she knew it.
She was blown out in the 1st set 6-2. She has lost 4 of her last 6 major finals. In the 4 losses, she lost the first set. Three of those were 2 set matches. In the two wins, she won the first set, and they were 2 set matches.

To say that Serena was coming back or was knocked off her game by the ref seems like scapegoating by the goat.
She was hammered in the first set and lost 6-2.
She was up 3-1 in the 2nd set after getting her only break of the match, then Osaka broke her, causing her to smash her racket - the score is 3-2 Williams at that point. Osaka holds serve. 3-3. Osaka breaks Williams to go up 4-3.
At this point, Serena is being buried, has just lost 3 straight games, and Osaka is serving.
At this point Serena decides to call the Ref a thief and berate him.

Serena screwed up. She was losing and she knew she was going down. Instead of losing gracefully, she chose to focus attention on the Ref and essentially force his hand. Not a nice thing to do to Osaka, who deserved the win and the glory.

But hey, she's the GOAT because of her competitiveness, and she's earned the right to go off the rails. McEnroe was unbearable.

As for the "men get away with this thing"? Yeah, that's like Kevin Spacey playing the gay card when he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor - a huge red herring.
She's been playing professional tennis for 20 years. Complaining about gender inequality from the refs when she was clearly going down was disrespectful to Osaka.
And hey, you make the same money as the men while putting in 60% of the effort on the court, so quit crying.

She never would have acted the way she did if her father was in the stands like in the early days. I've always felt that the divorce from their mother and his distancing himself from the family took a toll on both Williams girls. The fact that his second wife was only a year older than Venus probably didn't help things. His health is not good either.

 

[superjohn]

Serena said her coach doesn't do any coaching from the box and was lecturing the chair ump, her coach admits he was coaching her from the box. The rule violation and taking away a point I have no problem with. Taking away the game can certainly be viewed as a bit excessive, she was clearly having a meltdown and wouldn't let it go but still....I honestly think a big part of Serena's meltdown is that she knew she couldn't beat Osaka. Serena has now played Osaka teice and has yet to win a set off her.

There is some validity in the argument that female players are treated differently but there is video of this chair taking away a point from Djokovic for far less. I also don't remember Fed, Nadal, and Djoker threatening umps and demanding apologies.

I'm used to when I grew up and McEnroe would throw rackets all over the court and curse out the chair and Connors would call the chair "an abortion."

 

[superjohn]

She never would have acted the way she did if her father was in the stands like in the early days. I've always felt that the divorce from their mother and his distancing himself from the family took a toll on both Williams girls. The fact that his second wife was only a year older than Venus probably didn't help things. His health is not good either.

She acted like this when her dad was around, this is nothing new. She's threatened people on the court before. There was that memorable one where she was cursing out the official and threatened to shove her racket down her throat and make her choke on it. The woman said Serena threatened to kill her, who knows...

 

[huskyrob1]

She acted like this when her dad was around, this is nothing new. She's threatened people on the court before. There was that memorable one where she was cursing out the official and threatened to shove her racket down her throat and make her choke on it. The woman said Serena threatened to kill her, who knows...

Oh no, you're way off. He divorced Oracine way back in 2002 and took a much less visible role in their careers not too long after that when he began dating Lakeisha Graham who is only a year older than Venus. He married Graham in 2010. Serena started having meltdowns in 2009, which IIRC is the incident you're referring to, or maybe it was 2011.

 

[superjohn]

Oh no, you're way off. He divorced Oracine way back in 2002 and took a much less visible role in their careers not too long after that when he began dating Lakeisha Graham who is only a year older than Venus. He married Graham in 2010. Serena started having meltdowns in 2009, which IIRC is the incident you're referring to, or maybe it was 2011.

So a mid-30's woman can't keep it together because her 76 year old dad isn't at her matches. Sorry, I give her more credit than that.

 

[huskyrob1]

So a mid-30's woman can't keep it together because her 76 year old dad isn't at her matches. Sorry, I give her more credit than that.

Not saying she can't keep it together because he isn't there, what I'm saying is she would keep it together if he was. There's a big difference in meaning, between using the words would and could.

 

[UConnSwag11]

She acted like this when her dad was around, this is nothing new. She's threatened people on the court before. There was that memorable one where she was cursing out the official and threatened to shove her racket down her throat and make her choke on it. The woman said Serena threatened to kill her, who knows...

 

[Horatio]

She acted like this when her dad was around, this is nothing new. She's threatened people on the court before. There was that memorable one where she was cursing out the official and threatened to shove her racket down her throat and make her choke on it. The woman said Serena threatened to kill her, who knows...

She was born and raised in Compton
And therefore, flashbacks and PTSD happen. I gotta cut her a little slack. Say what you want.

 

[Lefty2one]

I have to tread lightly since it's a touchy subject. Many truly elite athletes, the best of the best, are a-h0les. It kinda comes with the territory. MJ was. Tiger Woods is. Serena is. These folks don't handle failure well; society needs to stop putting them on a pedestal and making excuses for them. MJ was fortunate enough to play in an era where the media protected him and before social media. Tiger is a massive a-h0le off the course and on it. They all behave like spoiled children when things don't go their way. It was interesting, though not surprising, to see so many rush to Serena's defense but that was an embarrassing display and I can't believe she's doubled down and is sticking to her guns.

 

[superjohn]

This was clinical by Novak, I feel badly for Del Potro. It's hard to believe just a few months ago articles were being written about Djokovic being done, he's now got himself back in the argument for best of all-time, he's the best hardcourt player ever.

Tennis fans have been spoiled rotten this generation watching the three best to ever do it, IMO.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

"Every time I play here, I have problems. I did not have coaching, I don't cheat. You need to make an announcement. I have a daughter and I stand for what's right. You owe me an apology.

'For you to attack my character is wrong. You owe me an apology. You will never be on a court with me as long as you live. You are the liar. You owe me an apology. Say it. Say you're sorry.

'How dare you insinuate that I was cheating? You stole a point from me. You're a thief too."

"Every time I play here, I have problems." Just BS? If not, specifically when? Surely not every time Williams has played at Flushing Meadows!

"I have a daughter ..." Really? So what? Maybe some guys get away with a bit more than some women at times, but having a child is no excuse for acting in the emotionally out-of-control manner Williams exhibited. Nor should any player have any influence over which umpires ump, referees ref, line judges judge, etc. Perhaps supposed sexism wasn't enough of an excuse for Williams, so she just tossed in some parent-ism BS excuse for good measure.

Disagree with the call; say your piece in a fashion exhibiting you're an adult and the more mature, experienced, and accomplished player on the court. Turn the page, use the ump's purportedly unfair call or supposed theft as motivation especially when getting your arse kicked by a 20 year old upstart versus continuing to whine like a spoiled brat, then slam your racquet to the ground in a temper tantrum akin to a human your infant child's age, etc.

Not that Williams appeared to be fighting back in the match, but perhaps yesterday's over-the-top actions will serve her right should a 24th major tourney win never occur. Boo hoo hoo!

 

[tzznandrew]

"Every time I play here, I have problems." Just BS? If not, specifically when? Surely not every time Williams has played at Flushing Meadows!

This wasn't the first time Serena Williams faced controversy at the U.S. Open - NY Daily News

 

[Dogdeacon]

Not surprising that a board comprised mostly of old white men hold onto bias against a black female athlete and want her to be penalized for speaking truth to power. Protect the establishment!

I've never, ever seen an official in any sport impact a championship so directly. Serena lost her cool but was on mic the whole time and never even swore and other than the racket there were no physical displays. Compare that to old time tennis players and what goes on by coaches/player in any major sport. That ruling was terrible. The chair umpire needs to put on his big boy pants and take it like a man. He robbed the players (both) and entire audience of any chance of a competitive match. That's not his job and it is on him. Expect changes.

To wit:
WTA CEO Steve Simon on Final
In a statement released on Sunday, Simon said the "WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men vs. women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same. We do not believe that this was done last night."

 

[tzznandrew]

And, of course, we get the racist caricature...