--- title: Naomi Osaka Tells Her Side Of U.S. Open Trophy Ceremony description: Naomi Osaka speaks in her first talk show interview after winning the U.S. Open final against Serena Williams. canonical: https://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-10T14:51:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:45.376Z og:title: U.S. Open Winner Naomi Osaka on That Emotional Trophy Ceremony og:description: "I knew it wasn’t the ending that everyone wanted," Osaka said og:url: https://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9e1df6ec0deb2f/698939d6bc6cfc99203e6e70/osakawilliamstennis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US Open Tennis Tournament 2018 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Open Winner Naomi Osaka on That Emotional Trophy Ceremony twitter:description: "I knew it wasn’t the ending that everyone wanted," Osaka said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9e1df6ec0deb2f/698939d6bc6cfc99203e6e70/osakawilliamstennis.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Naomi Osaka Explains What She Was Feeling During That Emotional U.S. Open Trophy Ceremony by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 10, 2018 2:51 PM UTC  2018 US Open Tennis Tournament- Day Thirteen. Naomi Osaka of Japan crying with Serena Williams of the United States at the presentations after the Women's Singles Final on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8th, 2018 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images) 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament- Day Thirteen. Naomi Osaka of Japan crying with Serena Williams of the United States at the presentations after the Women's Singles Final on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8th, 2018 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)Tim Clayton - Corbis—Corbis via Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Sep 10, 2018 2:51 PM UTC Rising tennis star Naomi Osaka just won her first Grand Slam title at the [2018 U.S. Open](http://time.com/5391414/meryl-streep-us-open/), but her win was not without [controversy](http://time.com/5390959/us-open-serena-williams-naomi/) surrounding the penalties meted out to [Serena Williams](http://time.com/5368858/serena-williams-comeback/) by the match’s umpire. In the wake of the highly anticipated final, where Williams was docked a point and then an entire game before Osaka beat her to take the title, both Williams and Osaka ended up in tears. Now, Osaka has weighed in on some of the emotions she was feeling at the trophy ceremony where she apologized to the crowd. > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1039127654820196352) In her first talk show appearance since the Open, Osaka [told the _Today_ show](https://www.today.com/video/us-open-winner-naomi-osaka-speaks-out-on-controversial-serena-williams-match-1316645443687?v=railb&) on Monday morning, that she apologized to the tennis fans, because she felt it wasn’t the ending that fans wanted. “I just felt like everyone was sort of unhappy out there and I knew it wasn’t the ending that everyone wanted it to be. In my dreams I won in a very tough, competitive match, so I just felt very emotional and that I had to apologize,” she said. It turns out that during the match, Osaka wasn’t sure what was happening when Williams and the match umpire Carlos Ramos were engaged in an argument. When the crowd booed, she explained her feelings at the time. She told _Today_: “I felt a little bit sad because I wasn’t really sure if they were booing at me or if it wasn’t the outcome that they wanted.” She added that the win was bittersweet for her, too, because she has “been a fan of Serena” her entire life and “knew how badly the crowd wanted her to win, so I was just emotional out there.” As tennis stars and fans decried [the umpire’s call](http://time.com/5391054/serena-williams-us-open-athlete-reaction/) on Williams, Osaka is still trying to process the finale. “I’ve been going all over the place, so I can’t really form an opinion right now,” she said. “But for sure I want to watch everything and I want to know what happened, because this is one of the biggest things that happened to me.” > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1039127050395770881) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/"},"headline":"Naomi Osaka Explains What She Was Feeling During That Emotional U.S. Open Trophy Ceremony","datePublished":"2018-09-10T14:51:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:45.376Z","description":"\"I knew it wasn’t the ending that everyone wanted,\" Naomi Osaka said in her first talk show interview after the U.S. Open final","url":"https://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/","keywords":["Newsfeed","tennis","serena williams","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9e1df6ec0deb2f/698939d6bc6cfc99203e6e70/osakawilliamstennis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac9e1df6ec0deb2f/698939d6bc6cfc99203e6e70/osakawilliamstennis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Open Tennis Tournament 2018","caption":"US Open Tennis Tournament 2018","creditText":"Tim Clayton - Corbis—Corbis via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/","name":"Naomi Osaka Explains What She Was Feeling During That Emotional U.S. Open Trophy Ceremony"}}]}] ```