Naomi Osaka Isn’t the Biggest Hurdle Serena Williams Must Overcome

Naomi Osaka roared onto the tennis scene in 2018 by winning the women’s singles championship at the U.S. Open against Serena Williams. It helped her reach No. 5 in the season-ending world rankings.

That ranking announced to the world that Osaka, 21 years old at the time, was here to stay. And it had to be her ranking doing the talking for her because there’s no way she would do it herself; Osaka’s big foe on the court may be Serena Williams,

but her toughest obstacle of all is her shyness.

One would hardly know that the top three women’s tennis players in the world at the moment are Ashleigh Barty of Australia, Simona Halep of Romania, and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

That’s because many fans tracking the U.S. Open have been paying closer attention to the No. 8 and 9 seeds – Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, respectively. Williams and Osaka entered the Sept. 10 semifinals one win away from reaching the finals. Osaka was to play American Jennifer Brady, ranked 41st, and Williams was to meet No. 27 Victoria Azarenka.

Williams is seeking her 24th career Gland Slam singles championship, which would tie the record set by Margaret Court. Doing so against Osaka would erase the memory of a controversial loss at the 2018 U.S. Open, a match that many at the time presumed would be that coveted 24th title.

That 2018 match at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center ended with Osaka winning, 6-2, 6-4. Two games into the second set, chair umpire Carlos Ramos assessed a code violation on Williams after coach Patrick Mouratoglou was seen giving her hand signals in violation of the rules.

Williams picked up a second violation for racket abuse, this time costing her a point. Williams then went into an angry rant aimed at Ramos, who docked her a game.

Ramos’ decision was correct under the rules governing abuse of officials, but it wasn’t popular with fans who expected to see a history-making win. Many spectators booed during the awards presentation, and both players were reduced to tears at times.