*Naomi Osaka defeated tennis ace Serena Williams in the 2018 U.S. Open final over the weekend, but her historic Grand Slam win was overshadowed by the drama between Williams and chair umpire Carlos Ramos.
Appearing on the “Ellen Show” Wednesday, Osaka revealed what Williams told her after the defeat as the crowd booed over the controversial decisions made by Ramos.
“She said, like, she was proud of me and that I should know that the crowd wasn’t booing at me,” Osaka told DeGeneres. “So I was really happy that she said that.”
Osaka won the match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, becoming the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Slam title.
“At the time, I did kind of think they were booing at me ’cause I couldn’t tell what was going on because it was just so loud in there, so it was a little bit stressful,” she added.
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The chair umpire caused an uproar when he issued three violations against Williams. The first came when Ramos ruled that she was receiving illegal coaching. Williams shot back and insisted she would “rather lose” than cheat.
Williams received a second violation when she smashed her racket in frustration. The third violation — verbal abuse — came when she called the umpire a “thief,” leading to an automatic game loss.
“You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live. You are the liar. When are you going to give me my apology? You owe me an apology. Say it. Say you’re sorry…And you stole a point from me. You’re a thief, too!” Williams yelled at Ramos.
“You owe me an apology!”
Serena was fired up with the official in the final set of the US Open final. pic.twitter.com/r6RSbrirnV
— ESPN (@espn) September 8, 2018
Osaka understood the crowd’s frustration and even apologized for the situation in her speech during the trophy ceremony (around the six-minute mark below):
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