When Naomi Osaka defeated Serena Williams and Serena basically acted like a spoiled child and her attitude and sense of entitlement overshadowed the fact that Osaka, who won the match fair and square, had just pulled off an upset for the record books. Naomi remained calm throughout the match, while Serena was an embarrassment, at one point threatening the umpire and looking like she was going to erupt in millionaire tears for a minute.
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Naomi Osaka was the opposite of Serena Williams: Quiet, reserved, respectful, and gracious. Or at least that was the case until the spotlight started being on her. Before this upset, most people that sit on the fringes of the tennis world had barely even heard of her - the next thing you know she is what everyone is focusing on.
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I've never been a huge fan of tennis but the outbursts of millionaire athletes is something that has never appealed to me in any sport. I understand that getting upset at your own failures and then attempting to pin that on someone else is just despicable. I find this especially true when that person is an umpire, line judge, ball / towel boy who has nowhere near the power that you, the millionaire diva makes.
Osaka was a breath of fresh air in the women's division and then all of sudden she started to take on a diva-like attitude. Is there perhaps a connection between success / money and the attitude an athlete takes on? It certainly seems that way.
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First there was her completely withdrawing from the French Open and then refusing interviews / press statements and now we have reached the point where she is screaming like a crazy person on the court and breaking her equipment on global television.
She is turning into Serena
Naomi Osaka has lost a lot of fans in the past 6 months and now I find myself being one of them. So you had a bad day and didn't win the entire tournament and went down a spot or two in the global rankings. Let me ask you this? What do you do for a living and how much money do you have in the bank?
Maybe you need to meditate a little bit and realize that the world doesn't revolve around you and that it might be your attitude that is actually what is fucking up your game and not your equipment.
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I was discussing this with a friend about golf the other day and i think it can apply to almost any sport. Once you start to get frustrated and angry about your performance, you tend to start to do worse. I really believe there is a tremendous amount of psychology involved in any sport and just because you are really good at it doesn't mean that doesn't apply to you.
The story of the night and perhaps the entire women's tournament is Osaka's 16 match winning-streak being broken by a relatively unknown 18-year old from Canada named Leylah Fernandez. Isn't it ironic that the world was saying how despicable it was that Serena took the limelight away from Osaka's victory back in 2018 only to have Osaka do exactly the same thing (although not in a final) almost exactly 3 years later in the exact same event.
Now we may be seeing a changing of the guard once again, although Leylah has a long way to go from her current no. 73 rank.
Naomi has stated that she may be taking a break from tennis indefinitely as the clearly emotionally fragile player stated in the interview that i am sure she did not want to do. I think the teary eyed multimillionaire should probably do exactly that because if you are going to throw a fit every time you do less than perfect, I think sports in general might not be the best place for your mental health and the fans certainly aren't going to love you for it. The jeering and boos that Naomi received during her loss is proof of that.
I really feel that a person needs to be gracious in defeat. It's OK to be upset but not to act a fool. But i guess that is just me