After her US Open loss, Serena Williams had to manage other people’s feelings about her. Again.

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka played a devastating match. Then they had to deal with everyone else’s emotions.

During the trophy ceremony for the women’s final of the 2018 US Open on Saturday, the new champion Naomi Osaka began to cry.

Serena Williams, who had just been defeated after a series of penalties she believed a male athlete never would have incurred, put her arm around Osaka. She whispered something in her former adversary’s ear. Beneath Osaka’s visor were the beginnings of a smile.

In that moment, the two showed more grace and respect than many commenting on the match, which became yet another referendum on Williams, whose every move is scrutinized in a way that’s inextricably tied to her gender and her race. Later, as the audience jeered during the trophy ceremony, Williams urged the crowd to support Osaka. “Let’s give everyone the credit where credit’s due and let’s not boo anymore,” she said.

The ceremony was an example of what Williams and many other highly visible women, in sports and beyond, have to contend with every day. It’s not enough for Williams to be one of the best athletes in the world, mere months after nearly dying after giving birth to her daughter. She has to deal with sexist and racist judgment of the way she expresses her emotions, while working to manage the emotions of everyone who watches her play.

Williams and Osaka talked down the crowd gracefully

Earlier that day, Williams had sustained a series of penalties — for getting coaching from the sidelines (a charge she disputed), for throwing her racket, and for arguing with an umpire — that ultimately cost her a game. She had questioned the motivation behind the calls, saying to a referee, “There are men out here that do a lot worse.”

“Because I’m a woman, you’re going to take this away from me?” she asked. “That is not right.”

Williams had faced yet another example of what looked like unfair treatment, coming after the years of sexism and racism she’s faced from media and audiences alike. She had seen the dream of a 24th Grand Slam title, which would have been the first since the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia and her recovery from a life-threatening blood clot, slip away. And then she had to stand up and accept the finalist trophy in front of a crowd whose boos and shouts could do nothing to restore what she felt was stolen from her.

Osaka, meanwhile, had just played against her childhood role model, the athlete whose performance on the court made her say, “I want to be like her,” according to the New York Times. She may have won, but she’d lost the chance to truly measure her skills against Williams, and to triumph without questions swirling around the victory. And then she had to stand up and accept her prize — her first Grand Slam singles trophy, and the first for any player born in Japan — in front of a booing crowd who’d wanted someone else to win.

Thanks for reading,  don't forget to share and upvote if you find this interesting 

😘 😘