1. Up until about midway through the second set, I loved watching Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka play for the championship of the U. S. Open. Naomi Osaka won the first set. Then things got weird in the second set when chair umpire Carlos Ramos issued Serena Williams a warning because her coach, Patrick Mourataglou made a "come to the net more" hand gesture, technically violating the event's no coaching rule. I don't know much about that rule, but I've never seen such a warning issued before and no one disputes that such "coaching" through hand gestures and other means happens regularly in these matches and the officials ignore it. The warning insulted and upset Serena Williams. She repeatedly made her case to Carlos Ramos that she wasn't a cheater, but the ruling couldn't be reversed.
A little later Serena Williams busted her racket in frustration after she lost a key game in the second set and was assessed an equipment abuse violation. Because it was her second violation, it cost her a point in the next game. Serena Williams protested. She called chair umpire Carlos Ramos a thief. He issued Williams a third violation for abuse of an official, costing her an entire game.
Naomi Osaka had outplayed Serena the entire match. She served beautifully, played with poise, moved Serena Williams all over the court, and hit brilliant passing shots and winners. Osaka was on her way to winning this match on the merits of her own play, unless Serena Williams could stage what would have been a remarkable comeback.
Serena Williams couldn't overcome the point or the game that was awarded to Naomi Osaka and Osaka won the championship. It was a nearly joyless victory because of what transpired between Carlos Ramos and Serena Williams. I've never seen a more painful trophy presentation for any event. During the ceremony, Serena Williams tried to shift attention to Naomi Osaka's brilliant play on the court. The crowd tried to cheer up Naomi Osaka, but the damage to the match couldn't be undone.
I'm bewildered by Carlos Ramos' decision regarding Serena being coached from the grandstands. If this rule were consistently enforced, I'd think differently about it, but I thought Carlos Ramos' ruling was bizarre. I didn't think Serena Williams' verbal response went too far. I've heard far worse protests leveled at umpires in matches, profane protests, that the umpire let play out without penalty. Having already been issued a violation, Serena Williams should have maintained her composure when she shattered her racket. Such abuse of equipment is a clear violation and required no interpretation on the chair umpire's part. I don't think Serena Williams' verbal protests rose to the level of abuse, though, especially given what I've witnessed other players do in the past. It looked to me like she got under Carlos Ramos' skin. I thought he should have let Serena Williams' protests run their course, especially because she wasn't cussing him out.
Remarkably, through all of the delays and protests and with the crowd showering boos upon Carlos Ramos, Naomi Osaka remained composed. Each time play resumed, she continued to hit rockets, whether serving or returning serve, and demonstrated that she was the superior player today. These days, tennis players and coaches talk a lot about "finding solutions" during a match when a player is having trouble with an opponent. Serena Williams couldn't find solutions for dealing with Naomi Osaka's game. Osaka was too powerful, too accurate, and too consistent for Serena Williams to overcome and I hope when the match's controversy dies down that Naomi Osaka will be remembered as a twenty-year old who soundly defeated Serena Williams by playing superior tennis and maintaining her calm in the midst of a highly charged drama -- a drama involving the player Naomi Osaka has idolized over the years, Serena Williams.
After I wrote the above, I read an article over at Slate which examines how both Carlos Ramos and Serena Williams were in the wrong on Saturday. It makes this point better than I did and, overall, reflects how I see things. You can read it here.
2. The Deke fried up some ground beef, onion, egg, and other things and added spinach to it and made a late lunch/early dinner for us called Broadway Joes. It was an offering on the menu at Strobel's in Spokane where the Deke was a server about 45 years ago and made for a delicious meal.
I used mine as a taco filler and loved how this excellent mess of foods tasted inside corn tortillas after I heated them up over an open flame on the stove top.
3. The Deke and I decided it would be fun to go up to the Inland Lounge to relax, yak, and laugh with Cas and Tracy and whoever happened to stroll in. It worked. We had many fun conversations, listened to some excellent music on the jukebox, and had a lot of laughs. It was a great session at the Lounge.
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