Serena Williams vs. Naomi Osaka: How the U.S. Open Descended Into Chaos
CreditIt all began with the slightest of hand gestures by a coach in Serena Williams’s box and ended in chaos, recrimination and, oh, yes, Naomi Osaka’s remarkable upset victory. Here’s a breakdown of what happened in the women’s final of the 2018 United States Open: A Dream Matchup Osaka, a shy, 20-year-old who was born in Japan but moved to the United States at age 3, grew up admiring and emulating Williams. She even did a report on her in third grade that she was very proud of. She admitted before the tournament began that it had long been her dream to play Williams in a Grand Slam final, and that dream came true. But surely her dream did not play out like this, in a swirl of controversy and accusations of sexism against the chair umpire, and an awkward postmatch celebration that no one seemed to enjoy. Naomi Osaka dominated Serena Williams in the first set. The setup for the entire controversy occurred in the first set in which Osaka, despite being 16 years younger...