I know everyone is already talking about Serena William and Naomi Osaka but there’s something I’m not hearing anywhere. Not many people are discussing the sisterhood shown by Serena to Naomi. To me, Serena showed an amazing level of sportsmanship and love to Naomi– even though Serena lost the game. When Naomi stood at center court to be announced as the winner, she actually pulled her visor down to hide her tears. She was crying because, despite her win, the crowd in attendance was booing. Loudly. So, Naomi’s triumphant moment was sullied by the way people reacted. In the midst of all that, Serena came over and put her arms around Naomi and gave her a pep talk to boost her spirits. The booing was less about the fact that Naomi had played and beaten her idol, and more about the drama between Serena and the Chair Umpire, Carlos Ramos, who made a series of calls which could have changed the outcome of the game. So, Serena had every reason to be catty but she wasn’t.
I really think that women of today need to get back supporting and loving each other from a place of sisterhood. For some reason, I feel as though we are losing the ability to support one another and care for one another and particularly when it doesn’t benefit us directly. How many of you can honestly say that you would have been gracious to Naomi even though you felt cheated out of winning? I’d like to think that I would have but, to be honest, the sting of being denied a win based on questionable calls by the official might have left me in a sour place. Serena has been clear about saying she said what she said for the good of women to follow behind her, including Naomi, who is Japanese-Haitian and I applaud the example she’s set for all of us. Let’s hope we can follow it as well as she has.
