Character Revealed

On Saturday, 09/08, Naomi Osaka defeated Serena Williams and became the 2018 U.S. Open women’s singles champion.  The twenty-year-old phenom claimed her first grand slam title along with a historic $3.8M victory check (Williams, at age 36, has 23 major victories).  If you were like me, you read about this feat the next day sifting through all the controversy that also surrounded the event.

To quickly recap, the first ever Japanese-born grand slam tennis player bested her childhood idol in every aspect of the game.  Osaka dominated Williams, claiming a 6-2, 6-4 straight set victory.  But what has overshadowed Osaka’s brilliant play was a series of exchanges between Williams and the chair umpire during the second set.  With Williams down one set and just into game two of set two, the official proceeded to charge her with a code violation.  The first resulting penalty was a warning to Williams for allegedly receiving coaching (coaches are not courtside but in the stands and during the big events are not allowed to instruct their athletes).  Williams contested the warning but kept playing and was able to establish a 3-1 lead before quickly surrendering the momentum by losing the very next game.  Now the game count stood at 3-2, and Williams smashed her racket on the ground while walking off.  This outburst led the chair umpire to assess her with her second code violation and resulted in the loss of a game point.  Osaka went on to win that game and square the set at 3-3.  When she proceeded to win the next one as well Williams’ emotions boiled over and she laid into the chair umpire during the changeover.  At this point the official called another code violation on Williams for verbal abuse, and the resulting penalty was the loss of an entire game, instantly changing the score from her being down 4-3 to being down 5-3.  Osaka would go on to claim the second set 6-4 and the match.

Earlier this week, Osaka was invited to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and the six-minute feature was pure inspiration in its simplicity.  The tennis star was poised but clearly nervous and out of her comfort zone.  And to Ellen’s credit, she immediately made their time together about Osaka, the college-aged kid who happens to have enormous tennis talent but many of the same interests and insecurities as her peers.  When asked about what Williams quietly shared with her following the match, Osaka revealed her idol said she was proud of her and you could see the profound impact that affirmation had on her.  As educators, how often have we seized on timely moments and made lasting impressions?  Small gestures aren’t necessarily simple ones.  And as observers, how often have we seen these exchanges take place? The scene that unfolded at last Saturday’s U.S. Open was raw and ugly and unsettling, yet two champions emerged.  That should be our end goal every time.