Serena Williams burns the house down as Naomi Osaka's brilliance is forgotten

The American legend was the victim of a draconian enforcement of the rules in the US Open final. But her reaction exposed the one flaw in her game

The venerable boxing trainer Cus D’Amato used to say that emotion, particularly fear, is like fire. If you make it work for you, then it can cook your food, keep you warm and give you light in the dark. But if you let it go out of control, it can burn your house down.

Only Serena Williams herself knows whether her shocking meltdown at the end of the most controversial US Open final ever staged – in which she was beaten by the brilliant 20-year-old Naomi Osaka – was down to a surrender to emotion or, as she framed it in the chaotic aftermath, an impassioned stand against sexism. But what, to one of the sport’s fiercest and most unsparing competitors, could be scarier than being outplayed by a young lion who appeared more athletic, who was serving faster and returning everything fired her direction with metronomic consistency? What could be more unsettling for Williams, who turns 37 this month, than watching another opportunity to tie Margaret Court’s record for grand slam titles slipping from her grasp when there’s no telling how many more chances lie ahead?

Continue reading...

from US news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2wVB57Z