Yesterday marked a dark, regrettable, actually
outrageous low point in the anals of sport. There have been the occasional wrong calls by refs and umps throughout the ages, in various sports, even those that have directly affected the eventual outcome. But yesterday’s unprofessional, egocentric gaffe by U.S. Open chair umpire Carlos Ramos must rank at the top of unjust sports results.
BOTH athletes in the women’s final, Serena Williams going for an historic 24th Grand Slam in her motherhood comeback, and Naomi Osaka, looking to become the first Japanese player, man or woman, to win a Grank Slam, were cheated.
Ramos, as is true of any umpire at the highest level of sport, needs to be as experienced, as calm, as intelligently discerning in his calls as the athletes need to be in their play. Yet Ramos evidently took enormous personal umbrage at Serena venting her frustration at being accused of cheating from the sidelines.
She had already been warned that her coach should not be making hand signals from the stands. Then when she smashed and broke her racket a bit later, Ramos penalized her a point for receiving two rules violations.
And when Serena raised her voice to Ramos, called him a thief for stealing that point from her, saying she has never cheated a moment in her career, he raised the stakes and penalized her an entire game. That put Osaka in a position suddenly to serve for the match….and she won.
Serena knew she was robbed. None of us will ever know what would have become of that match, with Serena’s strength growing over the course of that second set. And 20-year old Naomi Osaka was robbed of her joy. Instead of jumping and celebrating what should or could have been the peak of her young, stellar career, no matter how well she did play, she knew Serena should not have had that game taken away. And Osaka will never know, not really, if she would have won the title, without Ramos' huffy ego call.
Male players often use obscenities on the court. They call out the umpires in gruff, rude, threatening language. But Serena’s assertive voice was something Ramos could not tolerate. He lost his cool. He didn’t keep the needed perspective that this was the final for a Major title. He made sure Serena was under his thumb.
Ramos should never call another important tennis match.
Osaka will no doubt lift many Grand Slam trophies over coming years.
And Serena, to witness her wrap her arm around a crying Osaka, comforting her, encouraging her to proudly accept the title, well this is a new, mature, lovely, mom of a Serena Williams.
Yesterday I became her biggest fan. ... See more
