Naomi Osaka at the Roland Garros 2021
Naomi Osaka defends Serena Williams regarding US Open 2018
Naomi Osaka has revealed that she is fed up with the double standards between male and female sports stars while talking about her maiden Grand Slam win back in 2018 against Serena Williams at the US Open.
Osaka talking on podcast Victoria’s Secret Vs Voices, regarding the heated argument which took place between the umpire and Serena. The 23-time Grand Slam winner accused him of sexism after she was docked a game for receiving three code violations.
Osaka came in support of Williams and said male stars have done so much worse.
“Definitely if a male player did that, it wouldn’t have been so broadcasted. There’s actually been male players that have done far worse, like literally last year and this year, and they don’t get news reports at all.
“So I’m not sure if it’s because Serena is Serena, or if people just wanted to write negative things. I definitely felt like I can’t say that if we were both male players the outcome would have been the same way.”
Osaka won her first Grand Slam in a controversial fashion as she defeated Williams 6-2, 6-4 after the Japanese star was awarded a penalty game by the umpire. That helped her take the 5-3 lead against former World No.1 and eventually went on to win the set and the match.
However, Osaka was booed during the awards ceremony, which seemed to hurt the champion a bit.
Osaka, off late, has kept a low profile as she was battling mental issues this year. In June, she withdrew from Wimbledon for similar reasons before finally returning to the court for the Tokyo Olympics where she suffered a shock loss.
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The World No. 13 did not feature at the US Open as well but the good news for her fans is that she is back in the training and looking fresh and motivated like before.
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