NEW YORK — Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam after she defeated Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.
The match was interrupted by issues between Williams and umpire Carlos Ramos, who handed Serena three violations, including a game penalty that put Osaka up 5-3 in the second set.
Williams had been given a first violation by Carlos Ramos for coaching earlier in the set, telling him that she’d “rather lose” than cheat.
She resumed that argument after the second violation, still angry about the first violation. She unwrapped a new racket and then took the court to argue again some more about coaching.
“You owe me an apology,” she said. “I have never cheated in my life!”
As Williams’ argument with Ramos grew more heated, she told him, “You stole a point from me. You’re a thief, too.” It was then that she was assessed the game penalty.
That second code violation cost Williams a point, meaning Naomi Osaka had a 15-0 even before hitting her first serve in the sixth game of the second set.
Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told ESPN’s Pam Shriver after the outcome that he was coaching Williams from his box, but added that he never in the past received a code violation for doing so.
“Not once. You can check the record and you’ll see,” he said.
Williams has twice been fined for arguments with chair umpires at the US Open. In 2009, Williams was fined a then-record $82,500 and was told she could be suspended from the Open if she had “another major offense” at any Grand Slam in the next two years. She was again fined in 2011 for “berating the chair umpire” during her championship match.
This is not the first chair umpire controversy at this Open. Alize Cornet was cited for taking off her shirt, and the UTSA issued a statement saying the chair umpire was wrong to have cited her. Nick Kyrgios received encouragement from a chair umpire, to which the UTSA admonished.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.