yesterday, the u.s. open women’s singles championship showed the world the collision of passion, pride, pressure and pettiness. chasing a 24th grand slam title, especially after you’ve birthed a child and near death experiences, is beyond this world. serena williams is more than a superhero. she’s an example of persistence. but she is human. i’ve played tennis since the 9th grade. i love the sport. i would ride my bike for miles just to go play with friends on a run down court. i could relate to serena when she said in her post-match press conference that one of the reasons she loves tennis is because it requires her to trouble shoot. just her in that moment, the only one making the decision in a split second. and this is where one of her decisions cost her. i don’t believe it cost her the match, i believe it cost her her pride.
i’ve watched the finals match three times now. you’ve seen a lot of it, too. an espn youtube clip of highlights already has 2.3 million views. each time i watch serena play, i’m reminded that she is the greatest tennis player…ever! when natural ability, strong work ethic and a love for what you do collide, greatness is the outcome. most people deemed the greatest at what they do have one thing in common…they hate to lose. yea, they might learn something in losing. but they still hate it. with that comes a lot of passion and pride and often the two can be hard to manage – not just on a court.
“i don’t cheat to win, i’d rather lose,” is now a mantra and i bet is already being made into a t-shirt. maybe she didn’t cheat, but serena was losing. and to a winner, that’s pressure. normally, her shouts of “come on!” intimidate her opponent and motivate her to give more. but it didn’t happen yesterday. pride and the management of her passion went downhill when she smashed her racket after osaka stormed back in the second set to trail just one game. with osaka taking the first set 6-2 and having serena on her heels the entire match, serena must have felt osaka on the way to denying her the 24th title. even after serena was somewhat climbing back in the second set, she still couldn’t manage her passion and went on a full meltdown. after all, she had lost only one set the entire u.s. open and that was in a second set. this wasn’t normal. so then what. frustration enters and passion bubbles up and erupts on the biggest stage to the biggest person in the sport. human nature.
yes, there’s sexism in sports. this umpire was full of male pride and how dare a woman – a black woman – berate him on his throne. men in all sports get away with much more while venting their frustrations. and i can’t remember one violation a man has received for changing shirts on the court like that stupid penalty the female player received for adjusting her shirt to fit correctly. that’s flat out wrong. however, leading up to the call that gave osaka the lead in the second set, a rule was broken. no matter if happens all the time and doesn’t get called, serena’s coach admitted he was coaching. and if you notice, serena did exactly what he instructed. not calling her a cheater, just that she’s coachable and has good vision. the manner in which she trouble shot and the split decisions made – the thing she loves most about the sport and how it applies to her life – is what fueled the craziness and the ultimate pivot to pettiness by an umpire with a history of enforcing rules.
this finals was a lot of things that can be discussed from many angles. ultimately, it was about how you accept, how you manage and how you respond. it was about leadership. and the biggest leader in the 2018 u.s. open finals was naomi osaka. she was beating her idol the entire match, endured the whirlwind and cried her way to a championship, even apologizing for it. at 20, she was the example this time. character should be defended but the honor is in how you do so.
j. darius greene