Serena Williams clips chair umpire Carlos Ramos as husband jabs Maria Sharapova
Serena Williams and her husband might be the pettiest couple in sport going by what he wore to her US Open match — and what she said after.
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Serena Williams returned to the scene of one of her greatest failings with a dominant triumph, eviscerating Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-1 in one of the performances of her career.
The demolition job took less than an hour as Williams whacked 16 winners and 5 aces in a blistering performance that one commentator labelled as the equivalent of “playing pissed off”.
I know it's only round one, but this might be the most dominant effort I've ever witnessed from Serena Williams. She is playing pissed off. #USOpen
— Adam Forsythe (@adamforsythe) August 27, 2019
The win was as dominant as it gets and Serena was on her game from the start as she erased the demons of last year’s 6-2 6-4 loss in the final to Naomi Osaka when she had a complete meltdown at chair umpire Carlos Ramos.
The US Open made a decision to keep Ramos away from any of Williams’ matches at this year’s tournament — a situation she was asked about after her win against Sharapova.
“I don’t know who that is,” Williams dead-panned.
If you thought that was petty, there were also plenty of people willing to believe Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian choice of T-Shirt — which read “D.A.R.E. keeping kids off drugs” — was aimed at Sharapova, who was suspended from tennis in 2016-17 after testing positive for a banned substance. D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education.
the second drag of the serena-sharapova match happened off the court, with @alexisohanian in a d.a.r.e shirt. 😩 if you know, you know. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/CbnVXUtdeF
— get on the drums, ro (@oscar_pope) August 27, 2019
s/o @alexisohanian for the D.A.R.E. shirt. I love your petty.
— JeandraLeBeauf (@jeandralebeauf) August 27, 2019
I just saw Serena’s hub’s DARE shirt that he wore to the match. Talk about shade! Oh. My. Lol
— Beverly Jenkins (@authorMsBev) August 27, 2019
Before the match, the mother-of-one posted a photo of herself with daughter Alexis Olympia in the grounds at Flushing Meadows.
#ThisMama tries to spend as much time with @OlympiaOhanian as possible. She keeps me going especially during tournaments. Although the popcorn machine has her attention here, I know she's watching and learning to see how I persevere. #ThisMama keeps going, how do you? pic.twitter.com/DlN6IjnOTy
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 26, 2019
She then showed why she is still the greatest player of the modern era.
Rarely was Williams challenged by a rival who she now holds an amazing 20-2 career head-to-head record over.
The performance was of the highest calibre as Williams fired a warning shot to the rest of the draw that she might finally be ready to join Australian great Margaret Court on 24 grand slam titles.
Williams raced through the opening set in 24 incredible minutes and the stat sheet was amazing. “She would win the title, playing like this,” 18-time major champion Chris Evert said about Williams on ESPN’s telecast.
She won 27 points to just 12 for a shell-shocked Sharapova, hit 9 winners, including three aces and even won 10/17 points on Sharapova’s serve, breaking twice.
It wasn’t even until midway through the second set that Sharapova got a look in on the Williams serve at 2-1 and already down a break — but Serena snuffed out both break points with sensational winners, including a searing backhand pass down the line.
Serena Williams, send tweet. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/Rlu6rBzZ46
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) August 27, 2019
At that point Sharapova looked completely broken as Williams rounded out the rout.
“Bottom line is I believe in my ability,” said Sharapova, who has slipped to 87th in the world rankings after another season marred by injury.
“You can write me off. There are many people that can write me off, especially after going down 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the US Open. As long as it’s not the person that’s inside of you, you’ll be OK.”
Of course the reaction to the performance was as one-sided as the match as tennis scribes and sports journos delivered the goods calling the match “not even close”, “total domination”
Serena. Is. Not. Messing. Around.
— Michael Eaves (@michaeleaves) August 27, 2019
Wow. Serena is absolutely slaughtering Maria. Like I can’t even talk any more trash cuz this is just sad.
— Auto Tinsley (@AgentTinsley) August 27, 2019
This is Serena's best match of the year, and possibly in two years, and it's no shock at all.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 27, 2019
She never lets Sharapova get anything less than her best. #USOpen
While it’s hard to tell just how “pissed off” Williams may or may not have been the performance seemed to scream to the field she’s here to win and the women’s draw — including Australia’s Ash Barty, who Williams is seeded to meet in the quarters — is on notice.
Asked if she felt the tournament was hers to win, the eighth seed replied, “I feel like I’m here to do that. We’ll see what happens.”
Originally published as Serena Williams clips chair umpire Carlos Ramos as husband jabs Maria Sharapova