Serena Williams' disgraceful attitude overshadowed Naomi Osaka's first taste of Grand Slam success
Saturday night's Women's US Open final was more than a dramatic one as Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese player to win a major title.
But the morning after's media coverage made many tennis fans forget about that as once again Serena Williams' voice stole the headlines.
The American was completely outplayed from the first serve to the championship-winning point under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Osaka played the best match of her career so far, showing signs of a future multiple Grand Slam champion.
Earlier this year, Osaka repeated the same performance over the 23 time Grand Slam winner at the Miami Masters by defeating her in straight sets.
The world of sport has a history of historic moments of athletes losing their cool over a referee's decision or colliding with an opponent.
From Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Marco Materazzi at the 2006 FIFA World Cup final to John McEnroe's antics towards a number of chair umpires in his playing career, the list goes on and on.
Williams' attitude towards umpire Carlos Ramos will go down in the same index and will sadly be remembered for many years to come in the tennis community.
Williams overreacted
The drama unfolded in the second game of the second set as Williams was a set down to Osaka and the match was going in the Japanese's direction.
Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou gave out hand signals in between a point towards his player where the umpire caught him out and gave Williams a code violation.
The 36-year-old was not impressed by the umpire's decision and anger was expressed by the six-time US Open champion.
It has happened in the past when a player's coach has been caught for coaching their player during a match, especially at Grand Slam tournaments.
And most of the time the player accepts it and gets on with the match without even questioning the umpire.
Williams told Ramos that she never cheats and 'would rather lose than cheat' which was not relevant as Ramos never indicated that the 36-year-old was cheating.
It might have been easier to have controlled the situation for Ramos to have told Williams that he never thought she was cheating.
But in tennis, it only ever goes down as a warning and nothing more.
Williams just simply overreacted to the situation. It might have been different if the American was not trailing the Japanese player.
Williams did later on say that her coach never made any coaching signals during the final.
But after the match was done and dusted, Mouratoglou admitted to the press that he did send out signals to Williams.
Another possible overreaction moment was Williams stating that Ramos was sexist and 'a thief'.
There is a lot of money on the line when it comes to Grand Slam finals in women and men's tennis so the heat of the moment is high with the competitors.
But surely those moments by Williams will go deep down as regret from a very glittering tennis player.
The outcome was ugly no thanks to Serena
Each time Williams had a problem with Ramos' decision making, boos started to flare up in the 23,000 plus seated stadium towards the match umpire.
Williams is one of the biggest names in tennis especially on the WTA Tour so many supporters in the stadium were backing every move she made.
It was very ugly scenes for neutral fans of the sport and a very uncomfortable situation for an umpire who has worked in tennis for over 23 years.
The boos even carried on after match point, especially during the trophy presentation when Ramos picked up his medal for being a Grand Slam final umpire.
Later on in the match, Williams broke her racquet in anger and was given another warning from Ramos.
That kind of attitude doesn't paint a great picture for the youngsters and future generations that plan to get involved in the sport one way or another.
John McEnroe was known for his temper on the courts when the decisions wouldn't go his way and ever since - generations have performed similar antics.
The headlines should have belonged to Osaka
Every tennis player has to make all sorts of sacrifices to realise their dreams in the sport.
That includes spending long hours training, a tight diet plan and their social lives going out of the window.
Naomi Osaka got her reward last night for her sacrifices by sealing her first ever major win of her career.
This is a player who wrote papers about Serena Williams when she was at school, a big admirer of the American when growing up and always dreamed of being on the other side of the court to Williams.
2018 has seen Osaka go up against Williams on two occasions, winning both encounters, in Miami and of course in New York on Saturday.
During the trophy presentation, there were boos when the announcer praised both players for their efforts over the last two weeks at Flushing Meadows.
It resulted in Osaka crying which many thought at the time was the Japanese player reacting to the ugly reception from the crowd.
On a night where Osaka played the tennis of her life, that is what should be remembered despite the scenes we all witnessed during the final.
But no thanks to Williams' actions, this year's Women's US Open final will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
Sportskeeda Tennis Writer Jamie Davies' thoughts
Serena Williams is one of the greatest players we have seen in tennis with her never-ending determination to keep on winning and be at the top of the rankings tree.
But what we saw on Saturday was a very ugly night for the sport.
It is understandable when an athlete gets edgy over an umpire or referee's call/decision, it happens every day but most competitors accept it and get on with the match in front of them.
For Serena, she couldn't let it go. And I know and we all know that she is better than that.
The heat of the moment got to Serena and unfortunately for the American, she couldn't turn it around.
What are your thoughts with respect to what happened in Saturday's final? Comment below...
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