The showdown at the Miami Open ended with a bang: Record winner Serena Williams beat 16 years younger Japanese Naomi Osaka 3:6, 2:6 in the first round of Key Biscayne. The American reacted in her own way: she fled the plant straight away.
Disappointment, frustration – and the urge to just disappear. Serena Williams processed her early retirement at her home game in Miami in her own way. Immediately after the match against the new Indian Wells surprise winner Osaka, the 36-year-old fled the stadium, sat down in a car and was taken home from Crandon Park. The usual press conference, a must for the best professionals in the world, dropped them out. Serena Williams preferred to keep quiet.
And it seemed like a silent protest against the WTA regulations, which say that after a long break a player can use her “Protected Ranking” at eight tournaments to get directly into the main field. But without settlement. As a result of the million-dollar spectacle in Sunshine State Florida, Williams – the world’s first to take a baby break – had to play the up-and-coming Osaka in the first round.
Even rivals like current industry leader Simona Halep had harshly criticized the rule these days: “Serena should be on one. Because that’s where she was when she left,” the Romanian explained. Halep coach Darren Cahill had even asked the WTA to “protect” mothers like Williams and “support” them on their return to the tour.
Naomi Osaka, however, was euphorized by the special success of her role model. Four years ago, she asked the great Serena for a selfie as a fervent fan at the Stanford tournament. With success, by the way.
“She was the main reason why I started playing tennis. I’ve seen Serena so many times on TV and always cheered. It was difficult to break away from the idea that I was really playing against her,” Osaka explained, saying about her goals before the match: “I wanted to impress Serena – and not lose 6-0, 6-0. And I wanted to force her to call “C’mon!” at least once.”
The project was perfectly implemented by the protégé of Sascha Bajin from Munich on the Centre Court. Osaka dominated many rallies with her power and took advantage of the fact that the 23-time Grand Slam winner still has a big gap to make up in terms of fitness.
The match ball after 1:17 hours was symptomatic: A forehand, which Williams normally pocketed in the corner with somnambulistic safety, sailed out. It was 28 for her in total. unforced mistake (16 winners) – and her second defeat in the fourth match since her comeback.
Perhaps the best tennis player of all time had not lost a single of her opening matches at a US hard court event in the past 21 years, “For Serena it was bad luck that she had to play a player who is currently acting like a professional from the top 5,” said former number one Lindsay Davenport on US channel TennisChannel.
A few hours after Williams’ escape, the WTA released an official statement by the eight-time Miami winner, perhaps most aptly described as “meaningless”: “Naomi played a great match. I will keep pushing my return by improving every day,” Williams was quoted among other things.
Serena has shown a lot of power shots that I feared would knock me out. I thought,’Whoa, this is a Serena punch,'” said the young Japanese woman with respect for Williams. On the other hand, something like the former industry leader will not really be able to build up.