The Chaos in the US Open 2018 - Paper Example

Introduction

The US open 2018 final was surrounded with a lot of controversies which saw Osaka win the title against Serena Williams. The chaos arose between Serena Williams who was the player and the chair Umpire overseeing the game. The event unfolded after she was penalized for misconduct on the pitch. Allegedly, Williams violated three codes of conducts which included unlawful coaching, rackets abuse and victimizing an official verbally where she lost two points in general.

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Since the story broke, it has been covered on several occasions across media houses prompting a discussion on sexism and racism in the sport. Indeed, the story was a top story when it happened up to date. Moreover, the story was accelerated when an Australian newspaper went ahead to publish Serena Williams cartoon on the front page aimed at calling all those who termed the actions of the Umpire to be racist. The event was covered by several news outlets across the world including the NYC, CNN, BBC, CBS, FOX, VOX, and SKY news. Moreover, there were different opinions regarding the actions of the umpire and the reaction from Williams. Apparently, most of the news outlets gave the event much attention.

Headline Analysis

The news headlines both on televisions and newspaper in different outlets have been given much emphasis to help people understand what really happened during the confrontation. However, some headlines were focused on getting views thus misleading the public. For instance, one of the CBS headlines read "Chaos at U.S. Open: Williams Tangles with Chair Umpire, Falls to Osaka".From the headline, it may seem as if Osaka did not deserve to win and the chaos helped her out. On the other hand, NYC headline "Serena Williams vs. Naomi Osaka: How the U.S. Open Descended Into Chaos" (Waldstein, 6). The headline is sensitive and it attracts the audience to understand what took place to the point when the disagreement broke. One of the CNN headlines read as "Naomi Osaka upsets Serena Williams in controversial US Open final". The headline does not put much emphasis on the disagreement that occurred. It highlights Osaka's win rather than overshadowing it with the Chaos that occurred.

Image Analysis

CNN Image

The image below is posted on the CNN website. From the image, the facial expression from Serena Williams shows a person who is agitated, angered and throwing some insults. The pointing of the finger by Serena indicates an accusatory way of approaching things. Meanwhile, the umpire, Carlos Ramos is portrayed as a calm composed man listening to Serena's complains. Logically, he is seen as a rational person.

BBC Image

The BBC image captures Serena Williams, the chair umpire and the fans. The image depicts Serena as a frustrated person and full of negative emotions. She is confronting the umpire who is seated at his position looking at her. The audience looks to be divided. Some are clapping meaning they are supporting Serena's action while others look shocked as they watch the happenings.

NYC Image

The picture concentrates on Osaka in action. Osaka is portrayed as hardworking and determined to win the tournament. Her focus is solely on the tennis ball depicting an impression of a winner. Unfortunately, despite winning, she gets clouded by the controversies that happened.

Excluded Information

Information exclusion is a common phenomenon in the news outlets. The omission occurs during editing in newsrooms. The critical information that was excluded was the fact that most of the female players get unfair treatment during tournaments. The matter should have been extensively examined instead of concentrating on the events of the day (Korman, 8). Moreover, the sports fraternity ought to have been reached to address the matter of racism and sexism that Serena accused the umpire of committing. In addition, both past conducts of Serena and Carlos Ramos behavior should be investigated to determine who was on the wrong. For instance, Ramos has been accused by players like Nadal, Andy Murray and Djokovic of unfair treatment in their games.

Language and Tone

Indeed, the language and tonal variation send strong messages to the audience. Typically, most of the news outlets used words like chaos, fights, controversies, and tangles to describe the events that took place. Thus, it indicates that the confrontation was messy and ugly from a viewer's perspective. For instance, when Williams was confronting Ramos, the BBC news writes "At the next change of ends, Williams continued to rant, calling Ramos a "liar" (BBC Sport). Often, a ranting person is never taken seriously. On the other hand, the tone used was majorly accusatory. Most outlets based their arguments on whether or not either person was at fault since each person was claiming to be right.

Work Cited

US Open 2018: Serena Williams accuses umpire of sexism after outbursts in final. BBC Sport. https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/45461716. Published 2018. Accessed September 12, 2018.

Waldstein D. Serena Williams vs. Naomi Osaka: How the U.S. Open Descended Into Chaos. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/sports/serena-Osaka-us-open-penalty.html. Published 2018. Accessed September 12, 2018.

"Chaos at U.S. Open: Williams Tangles with Chair Umpire, Falls to Osaka." CBS San Francisco - Breaking News From The SF Bay Area << CBS San Francisco, 8 Sept. 2018, sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/09/08/serena-williams-fight-chair-umpire-osaka-wins. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.

"Serena Williams Cartoon, Called Racist, Gets New Life on Paper's Front Page." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 12 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/world/australia/serena-Williams-cartoon-Australian-newspaper.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018. ("Serena Williams Cartoon, Called Racist, Gets New Life on Paper's Front Page")

Ravi Ubha, CNN. "Naomi Osaka Beats Serena Williams in Controversial US Open Final." CNN, 9 Sept. 2018, edition.cnn.com/2018/09/08/sport/naomi-Osaka-Serena-Williams-us-open-tennis-int-spt/index.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018. (Ravi Ubha, CNN)

Carlos Ramos, Umpire Known for Rigidity, Lands in U.S. Open Firestorm." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia, 10 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/sports/tennis/serena-Williams-umpire-Carlos-Ramos-us-open.html. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018. ("Carlos Ramos, Umpire Known for Rigidity, Lands in U.S. Open Firestorm")

"Yes, Serena Williams Was Treated Unfairly in U.S. Open Loss." For The Win, 10 Sept. 2018, ftw.usatoday.com/2018/09/yes-serena-williams-was-treated-unfairly-in-us-open-loss. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018