Serena’s best five moments of the year
People are still talking about Serena Williams’s outburst at the US Open, but there have been numerous other moments in the life of the tennis champion that worked the emotions of her fans in 2018.
THE US OPEN SAGA
Williams was determined to have referee Brian Earley see things her way at the finals of the US Open in September.
Earley alleged that Williams had received on-court instructions from coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
“I don’t use on-court coaching,” said Williams. “He (the referee) alleged that I was cheating and I wasn’t cheating.”
But Mouratoglou later said that he had provided on-court coaching.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka won the match, becoming the country’s first Grand Slam singles champion. The outburst had Twitter divided in the weeks that followed, with some people expressing disdain for “sexism” in the tennis world, and others calling Williams “spoilt”. Though this flare-up is what many people remember about the tennis icon’s year, Williams had several other newsworthy moments.
ROYAL WEDDING
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in May, Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian were among the high-profile guests.
Williams and Markle have been close since they first met in 2010.
Dressed in an asymmetrical pink dress and matching hat, Serena was an elegant figure alongside her husband, who wore a traditional morning suit.
DOPING TESTS
June was not a very good month for Williams as she was subjected to excessive doping tests.
The tennis champ felt she was being unfairly targeted by the US Anti-Doping Agency. “It’s only June, I’ve been tested five times,” she said. Williams claimed that her counterparts had been tested once or not at all. “Just due to the numbers, it looks like I’m being pushed out. Just test everyone equally,” she suggested.
SERENA HITS THE RIGHT TUNE
Williams melted the hearts of her fans when she sang I Touch Myself by The Divinyls. She sang her version of the song for a cancer awareness campaign urging women to regularly examine themselves.
GQ COVER CONTROVERSY
In October, the cover of GQ magazine put Williams in the spotlight.
Fans were furious that the publication used quotation marks around the word “woman” when it gave her the title of 2018 GQ Woman of the Year.
GQ’s research manager was later quoted as saying that the title had been handwritten by designer Virgil Abloh who “styled everything in quotation marks as of late”.
Despite the controversies throughout the year, Williams still enjoys her status of world-class tennis player, a role she now balances with being a wife and mother. Times Live.
