Black Tennis Pros

2018 U.S. Open Champion Naomi Osaka, Japan

Congratulations to a very determined, strictly business on the courts player, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka of Japan.

Watching Osaka grow and tune her game over the years has been wonderful. It has been very visible seeing her mental growth as she watches her opponents tactics and adjusts her own to amp up her game and whatever the outcome, continue to move forward.

Osaka's apparent introverted personality seems to keep her in a very working and focused mode during her matches, as it did today with the very unfortunate circumstance of her opponent, 23 Grand Slam title holder Serena Williams.

Osaka maintained her composure, continued with the same game before and after the incident, and I believe came out on top as she would have had the incident not occurred. As Osaka  played and prevailed in the first set, there was no doubt that her skill level and desire to take the match was on a level that could make it happen... and it did.

Though Osaka's win came in the midst of a controversy, it was incontrovertible and she deserves ever accolade, prize money and all the love that she receives.

She may be a quiet spirit, but it's a powerful, as well as graceful one.

KEEP IT MOVING NAOMI - GREAT JOB!

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World No. 1 American Serena Williams gets major cool points from me for her efforts today.

With a heavily strapped left thigh, injured Serena did not default because of the injury that she appeared to have aggravated while playing sister Venus in the semifinals; she came out, competed as best she could and let the chips fall where they may. They fell in her defeat.

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka did what she should have done, take advantage of the fact that she had the World No. 1 player in a position of limited mobility - it's all in the game.

Azarenka placed shots far beyond Serena's restricted reach and attempted to move her around the rest of the time. That had to be Azarenka's game plan because Serena was definitely in no danger of losing based upon Azarenka's serve. Serena responded where she could, but in a lot of instances she simply allowed the balls to fly by.

Azarenka eventually "won" the match 6-3, 6-1.

Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, Serena Williams, USA

Seeing how badly Serena began to yield to her injured leg on Thursday, I didn't anticipate a vibrant Serena coming out for the final, so I wasn't disappointed. Hopefully she will heal soon.

Photos by Getty Images

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There's really not much to say here. American Serena Williams took her third U.S. Open Championship Sunday night in the Arthur Ashe Stadium by defeating Serbian Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5. It was a well contested match on both sides.

When asked which title was the most exciting, Serena said "every one is so exciting, believe me. This is cool because I'm at No. 9. I'm pushing the doors closer to double digits, which of course I want to get to."

"I think this title meant more to Serena than any title she's ever won," her father and coach, Richard Williams said.

At the net, Serena said to Jankovic, "I'm sorry I got so excited."

The photos say everything else.

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