Spare a thought for Naomi Osaka. Who is Naomi Osaka? The 2018 winner of the US Open tennis tournament. She beat Serena Williams in the final quite easily.
All you hear about is how Williams lost. And she lost badly by being outplayed and then throwing a hissy-fit of monumental proportions. I guess she's desperate to equal Margaret Court's record. To do that she'll have to wait until next year and the Australian Open at the earliest.
Williams only has herself to blame. She's a top professional, she must know all the umpires and how they officiate. A player of her stature must be able to adjust to whoever is in the umpires chair. She couldn't, what she expected was for the umpire to bend to her will. She scolded him, finger pointing, then questioned his honesty. The umpire acted very professionally, playing it straight down the middle. A good case could be made for Williams losing by default, that's how bad her tantrum was.
Now we're subjected to Williams hogging the headlines about how she's fighting for equality, the rights of women, you name it. It is very unbecoming and very unsportsmanlike. Now you can see why I avoid anything to do with Serena Williams. I try not to watch but seeing as Osaka had done so well, I just had to catch the highlights, and then no surprise from Williams. I wasn't even forewarned about what to expect and when the tantrum started I could only feel for Osaka having to stand there stranded while Williams tried to influence the match by causing a disruption.
Bigger picture; the game at the highest level has to be wrestled back off the elite players. They're starting to think they call the shots. One option would be to restructure the way tournaments are played. Currently tournaments really want the stars to advance. Anyone who loses is out, and thus the organisers don't like early exits. So a premium is placed on this top talent. Change the way things are done and neuter these top players. Got any ideas?
No comments:
Post a Comment