Wow, did you catch all the tennis drama over the weekend? What began as a “slightest of hand gestures” by a coach in the stands soon ended in “chaos, recrimination and, oh, yes, Naomi Osaka’s remarkable upset victory.” Yes, the 20-year old Naomi Osaka, described as “shy” and grew up “admiring and emulating Williams”, was up 6-2 in the first set, ready to pull of a huge upset victory for the Grand Slam title.
Serena was visibly frustrated, so when Carlos Ramos, the “notoriously strict chair umpire,” called a code violation for coaching after Patrick Mouratoglou (Serena’s coach) made a slight wobbling motion with his two hands (as if to remind Williams how to move), Serena’s in-the-moment Empirical, Animate “feelings” kicked in, and it was all downhill from there. Williams approached the chair and said to Ramos, “One thing I’ve never done is cheat, ever. If he gives me a thumbs up he’s telling me to, ‘Come on.’ I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose. I’m just letting you know.” (After hundreds of matches, you’d think she would have told the coach by now don’t give me coaching hand signals?)