Serena Williams has been at the top of women’s tennis for a long time. She and her sister Venus have dominated the women’s side of the sport, but today, she lost the US Open to Naomi Osaka of Japan. And because she lost, everything about tennis is now racist.

No, seriously. Serena was penalized during the match for multiple reasons, which caused her to complain during the match. First, her coach was called out for trying to signal her from the stands – which is not allowed in a Grand Slam match.

Williams objected right away, saying she would “rather lose” than cheat. After the match, in an interview with ESPN, Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, acknowledged that he had tried to signal Williams but said he didn’t think she had seen him — and added that he thinks every player gets coaching during matches.

“Well, I mean, I’m honest, I was coaching. I mean, I don’t think she looked at me, so that’s why she didn’t even think I was. I was like 100 percent of the coaches on 100 percent of the matches, so we have to stop this hypocrite thing,” Mouratoglou said. “Sasha was coaching every point too. This chair umpire was the chair umpire of most of the finals of Rafa, and Tony’s coaching every single point, and they never gave a warning. I don’t really get it. It’s strange.”

Mouratoglou added that he had never been called for a coaching violation: “Not once in my life, and you can check the records, you’ll see.”

So, her coach admitted that he got caught. But the game continued.

Briefly, Williams appeared to be working her way back into the match, breaking Osaka for the only time to go up 3-1 in the second set. But Williams played a poor game right after that to get broken immediately, and she smashed her racket on the court, destroying it. That drew a second code violation — and automatically cost Williams a point. When she realized that the next game had started with Osaka ahead 15-love, Williams told Ramos he should have retracted the initial warning for coaching.

“I have never cheated in my life!” Williams said. “You owe me an apology.”

She resumed arguing with Ramos later, saying, “You stole a point from me. You’re a thief, too.”

He responded by issuing a third code violation, which results in a lost game. That made it 5-3 for Osaka.

Ramos called both players over to explain his ruling, and Williams began laughing, saying: “Are you kidding me?” She asked to speak to tournament referee Brian Earley, who walked onto the court along with a Grand Slam supervisor. Williams told them the whole episode “is not fair” and said, “This has happened to me too many times.”

“To lose a game for saying that is not fair,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of men out here that have said a lot of things, and because they are men, that doesn’t happen.”

Soon thereafter, the match was over.

The 36-year-old champion got outplayed by a 20-year-old woman of Haitian and Japanese descent, and that did not sit well with the crowd – who started to BOO during the awards ceremony.

This was the biggest moment of Naomi Osaka’s life up to this point – she had just beaten her tennis idol – and the crowd was booing her. No wonder she started to cry – and then proceeded to APOLOGIZE to the crowd for winning!

#Sport #Facts U.S. Open 2018: Naomi Osaka apologizes for defeating favorite Serena Williams: Serena Williams had the support of the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, prompting Naomi Osaka to apologies fo.. https://t.co/yxFZJ0EmtF https://t.co/TuGrhQLn9f pic.twitter.com/CkfDH8ACmf

— Just the FACTS (@BejahFACTS) September 8, 2018

Naomi Osaka, 20, APOLOGIZES during her speech for beating Serena Williams. The crowd was BOOING. Come on! She is the first Japanese athlete to win a grand slam title.

— Nora Abramov (@NoraAbramov) September 8, 2018

Naomi Osaka just won the US Open, a Grand Slam, and I've yet to see her smile. She looks so horribly sad and disappointed.

And now she apologizes, basically, for winning. This is f'king horrible.#USOpen18

— Alan Clemons (@BigAlFishes) September 8, 2018

Serena Williams awkwardly tried to cover for her, and she did tell the crowd to cheer for the winner. But it was insane that this was even happening. And you all know what happens next… It’s the patriarchy’s fault!

Umpire robs Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in U.S. Open final by turning a minor infraction into a nasty controversy https://t.co/Qu2BoVxUWM

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 9, 2018

Serena Williams: "There's a lot of men out here that have said a lot of things and because they're a man, that doesn't happen to them." (via ESPN) pic.twitter.com/9MqhnAja20

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 8, 2018

The umpire is racist!

Looking forward to a week of “Queen BAE wasn’t having any of it from that racist umpire” clickbait pic.twitter.com/xQQoKwHRcp

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 8, 2018

*knock knock* Delivery! Order by… *checks ticket* @redsteeze? Thanks for ordering with Critical Theory. pic.twitter.com/zAt5ubbhz7

— cabbieBot (@cabbieBot) September 9, 2018

How Serena Williams survived in the lily-white world of women's tennis: https://t.co/JadvESIc2Q

— Slate (@Slate) September 9, 2018

Let’s all call this what it is. A black woman being penalized in a way a white man (ie John McEnroe) never would be. And totally tarnished the win for Osaka, another woman of color.

— Niala (@NialaBoodhoo) September 8, 2018

You’ve also witnessed what happens when black women-yes, BLACK-women dare stand up for themselves.

Watch the headlines. Serena rightfully DEFENDED herself but stuff is already saying she “exploded.”

I’ll take Angry Black Woman trope for 1000, Alex. #USOpen

— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) September 8, 2018

Just say y’all hate Serena cause dominant black women scare the mess outta you and move on.

Go be miserable elsewhere.

— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) September 8, 2018

Serena Williams played a game. She broke the rules. She got penalized. The better player at that Final was Naomi Osaka.

Osaka displayed more maturity today and she was rewarded with her first grand slam title.
Too bad everyone wanted to talk about how much of a legend the runner-up is. https://t.co/iTaDqdt8QU

— Alex Blair (@alexblair_1) September 9, 2018

It's shameful what US Open did to Naomi Osaka https://t.co/Il8PmzNHEn pic.twitter.com/pxxLo7PZdc

— New York Post (@nypost) September 9, 2018

https://twitter.com/FritoPaw/status/1038551043058151425

You know who knew better than anybody else on the planet that Naomi Osaka was better today? The woman she beat. We can talk forever about coaching and broken rackets and Serena calling the guy a thief. It's all just noise. Osaka was better.

— Mike Lupica (@MikeLupica) September 9, 2018

Sad that Naomi Osaka’s incredible achievement is being overshadowed by Serena’s despicable behaviour. She may be the greatest player the game has ever seen but her legacy will be forever tarnished by her childish behaviour

— Matt Brown (@chahuahua) September 8, 2018

Serena Williams has been a tennis pro and a champion long enough to know the rules. Being “Serena Williams” doesn’t mean that she gets to break the rules without getting called out on it. It’s not “the patriarchy,” and it’s not racism. Her coach admitted to the violation. She broke her racket. She kept arguing with the chair umpire. None of this is in dispute. The dispute is over the penalty – which apparently was completely within the purview of the umpire. The US Open has released its own official statement:

#USOpen Statement on Women's Final pic.twitter.com/0h3Y3abl0H

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2018

Serena Williams has been an incredible tennis player. Today, she got outplayed again by Naomi Osaka – who apparently defeated her back in March at the Miami Open. Her behavior on the court today was not that of someone who has been in the sport long enough to know the rules. Her behavior afterward was lukewarm at best. The fans in attendance who booed are a disgrace. Naomi Osaka is a class act.

.@Naomi_Osaka_ has a special message for YOU after after @USOpen glory! #大坂なおみ pic.twitter.com/MGJvtYpjx2

— WTA (@WTA) September 9, 2018

If you’re going to release anything it’s an apology to Osaka. Between the fans booing and the directors of the US Open shuffling off the podium leaving her alone it was an embarrassment to the sport and the tournament.

— Jordan Steele (@jordan26steele) September 9, 2018

Naomi Osaka deserved to have her moment. Instead, the crowd decided to crap all over her, and now the armchair umpires of Twitter are trying to rob her of her fair win by blaming the umpire and racism, instead of Serena Williams and her behavior, for the loss. Sports are the ultimate meritocracy. If you want to complain about fair enforcement of the rules, fine. But don’t rob the champion of her laurels because the expected winner got penalized for her behavior.

Featured image: screenshot via ESPN on YouTube