It's one or the other, and the fact that a protracted exchange with the umpire cost her the 2018 women's championship match with Japan's Naomi Osaka cannot be understated.
Osaka won the first set 6-2, and the fireworks started at Serena up 3-2, on serve, in the second set...
She was given a first Code Violation, a warning, by chair umpire Carlos Ramos of Portugal for illegal coaching.
This incensed Williams to this:
Ramos then assessed a second penalty (a point against Williams), in a game that Osaka eventually broke Williams."You owe me an apology!"— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2018
Serena was fired up with the official in the final set of the US Open final. pic.twitter.com/r6RSbrirnV
After holding serve, the second part of the video shows the situation getting quite heated.
It is at this point that I do believe Williams was only kept in the match because The Show Must Go On.
For the second time, whether justified or not, Serena Williams should've been disqualified and forcibly removed from the court for a serious code violation.
A third penalty (a game to put Osaka up 5-3) was assessed -- Osaka would win the match 6-2, 6-4.
But, justifiably or not, the only right end to this was the final penalty, default. AGAIN!
Given the protracted nature of the second argument, a third penalty should have been assessed far before it finally was. That would've made the rest of the argument the penalty of default.
Or do we forget the infamous lineswoman incident in the 2009 semifinal for which Williams should've been banned from the sport to begin with, where she was claimed to have threatened the safety of a lineswoman in her semifinal match, eventually being assessed match point against her, and $82,500 fine (unprecedented to that date), and two years probation.
A two years probation she failed to successfully complete (except The Show Must Go On), because she was fined $2,000 for berating the chair umpire during her appearance in that championship match, which she won! The USTA deemed that not a Major Offense -- farcical on it's face, on the concept of bringing the game into disrepute.
The United States Tennis Association needs a final decision on their Serena Williams problem.
Do they have a problem that the only relevant American tennis players for the last 15-20 years have been two Black women?
Or does the USTA have to ban Serena Williams once and for all and be done with it?
One of the other.
This is the THIRD women's tournament an altercation between Williams and match officials has irreparably marred.
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