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Thursday 13 September 2018

What Serena Williams told Naomi Osaka at peak of US Open madness.

Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams at the 2018 US Open
  
It was hard to miss the fireworks igniting on the court Saturday inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, but as US Open champ Naomi Osaka recalls, she wasn’t exactly in tune.
“When you’re little, you’re taught not to look if your opponent gets angry or anything, you’re told to turn around and try to focus, so I tried to do that,” the 20-year-old superstar said Wednesday on “Ellen.”
“But in my mind, I was sort of, I really wanted to know what was going on.”
Osaka’s opponent, fan favorite Serena Williams, melted down on the court, exploding at chair umpire Carlos Ramos after being penalized for getting coached on the side by her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. She later was penalized for racket abuse and forfeited an entire game for calling Ramos “a thief.”
“I was looking away, but I heard a lot of people in the crowd making noises, and I really wanted to turn around, but I didn’t,” Osaka said.
As Osaka was crowned the victor of this year’s tournament, after a dominant 6-2, 6-4 performance, Williams offered a few words to the young champion, as boos continued to pour down from the stands above.
“She said she was proud of me, and that I should know the crowd isn’t booing at me,” Osaka shared. “I was really happy she said that.”

 
Though Osaka “did think” the crowd was booing her, she has had time to reflect on the emotional stress of the situation.
“I can sympathize because I’ve been a fan of Serena my whole life and I knew how badly the crowd wanted her to win,” Osaka said Monday on the “Today” show. “I don’t know, I was just really emotional up there.”


NY Post

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