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Naomi Osaka Beats Serena Williams for US Open Title

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Naomi Osaka Beats Serena Williams for US Open Title

(September 8, 2018) FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY- Noami Osaka became the first woman from Japan to win a major title, defeating her idol Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday to win the US Open.

Osaka will rise to No. 7 in the world when the rankings come out on Monday. This means that Osaka will be the highest-ever ranked Japanese player in history. This only the second tournament, Osaka has ever won, the first was Indian Wells back in March.

“It doesn’t really feel that real right now. I think maybe in a few days I’ll realize what I’ve done.

“Right now it just feels, like, I don’t know. Aside from the fact there’s a lot of press in this room, it feels just like another tournament.”

“I feel like coming into this tournament I had a lot of things happen to me, and then now I’m just having fun while I play, so I think that’s always something that I can, like, keep trying to do.”

“I feel like (winning the US Open) it’s a bit similar to Indian Wells, the way things happened. I really just tried to have fun. I knew that going into this match it was going to be really hard, so I just thought that I fought for every match, so I had to just keep fighting for this one.”

The second set of the match was marked with controversy. Williams received a warning for a coaching violation. She received a point penalty for smashing her racquet, and had a game taken away from her for verbal abuse for arguing with the chair umpire Carlos Ramos in the eighth game, calling him a “thief.” This gave Osaka a 5-3 lead. Williams held at love for 4-5, and the 20th seed served out the match to claim her first major title at 20-years-old.

“I don’t know how I’m feeling yet. Haven’t had time to really process everything. But I’m just trying, like I said out there, to stay positive and to, you know, look at all the bright things and all the good things and just keep going forward with that,” Williams said at her post-match news conference.

“He alleged that I was cheating, and I wasn’t cheating,” the 17th seed Williams said in regard to the chair umpire’s rulings. “Then I had a good conversation with him. I said, Listen, you know my character. You know me really well. Like you know that I don’t even call for on-court coach. I don’t even do that.

“He’s like, You know what? I understand. I don’t know if he said, You’re right. But he understood. He’s, like, Yeah, I get what you’re saying.

“Then when I sat down, I said it again. I was, like, Just to be clear, I can understand what you saw because it may have looked — just because I look at my box, it may have looked like I was getting coaching, but I’m telling you, that’s not what I do. I said, I’d rather lose than have to cheat to win. I don’t need to cheat to win. I’ve won enough. That’s never been something I’ve ever done, you know.

“And he was cool. He was like, Oh, I get it. We had this great exchange. We were on the same page. We understood each other, and I felt that that was.”

Osaka confessed that she did  know what was going on. “Well, I didn’t really hear anything because I had my back turned, so I didn’t really know there was anything going on at the moment.”

“Well, I mean, the crowd was really noisy, so I really didn’t hear. Like, I really didn’t hear anything that was going on.

“And when I turned around, uhm, it was 5-3, so I was a little bit confused then. But for me, I felt like I really had to focus during this match because she’s such a great champion, and I know that she can come back from any point.

“I was just trying to focus on myself at that time.”

At the end of the match, Williams comforted Osaka with a hug at the net. “I felt at one point bad because I’m crying and she’s crying. You know, she just won,” said the 23-time major champion. “I’m not sure if they were happy tears or they were just sad tears because of the moment. I felt like, Wow, this isn’t how I felt when I won my first Grand Slam. I was like, Wow, I definitely don’t want her to feel like that.

“Yeah, maybe it was the mom in me that was like, Listen, we got to pull ourselves together here.”

“I feel like she was really, really consistent,” Williams said, complimenting her opponent. “I think her game is always super consistent. I felt like she played really well.

“Like I said, she made a lot of shots. She was so focused. I think, you know, whenever I had a breakpoint, she came up with some great serve. Honestly, there’s a lot I can learn from her from this match. I hope to learn a lot from that.”

“I know everyone was cheering for her. I’m sorry it had to end like this.”

Osaka talked about her key to winning the match: “I think my serve was important in the whole match. She’s such a good returner, and I really felt like I had to hit the spots today.”

Osaka was 4 for 5 on break points against Williams, The 17th seed could only break the 20th seed’s serve once and that was in the second set, and Osaka broke back right away.

“I had fun playing, but I was also very nervous and stressed at the same time. And, yeah, I think growing up, coming here and seeing everyone lift this trophy when I was a kid, I think for sure one of my goals was granted.”

So what’s Osaka’s new dream after winning the US Open?

“Well, I’m going to Tokyo next, so hopefully to win the tournament there,” she said with a big smile.

“I’m just going to take it one step at a time. I’m not going to really think too far ahead.”

Much more to follow….

 

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