--- title: Serena Williams Breaks Silence on US Open Controversy description: Serena Williams has maintained that she did not receive coaching during her controversial loss in the U.S. Open women's singles final. canonical: https://time.com/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-17T15:43:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:52.664Z og:title: Serena Williams Breaks Silence on U.S. Open Controversy og:description: Williams maintains that she did not receive coaching in the final og:url: https://time.com/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e51893f1b030df5/69893a6d22fb85b434e26b09/serena-williams-us-open2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&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: Serena Williams Breaks Silence on U.S. Open Controversy twitter:description: Williams maintains that she did not receive coaching in the final twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e51893f1b030df5/69893a6d22fb85b434e26b09/serena-williams-us-open2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Serena Williams Breaks Silence on U.S. Open Controversy  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 17, 2018 3:43 PM UTC  Serena Williams of the United States embraces Naomi Osaka of Japan as she cries at the presentations after the controversial Women's Singles Final at the 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament on September 8th, 2018 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. Serena Williams of the United States embraces Naomi Osaka of Japan as she cries at the presentations after the controversial Women's Singles Final at the 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament on September 8th, 2018 in Flushing, Queens, New York City.Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 17, 2018 3:43 PM UTC [Serena Williams](http://time.com/money/5391659/serena-williams-rules-violation-fine/) has maintained that she did not receive coaching in the [U.S. Open](http://time.com/5390959/us-open-serena-williams-naomi/) women’s singles final in her first public comments since the post-match press conference. In a forthcoming interview with Australian talk show _The Project_, the [tennis superstar](http://time.com/5368858/serena-williams-comeback/) refuted comments that her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, made about gesturing to her from the stands during her matchup with Japan’s Naomi Osaka. “We all know that all the coaches coach at every match, all year long,” Mouratoglou said. “So this is the rule. Then there is the psychology the chair umpire is supposed to have. Tell Serena, ‘I’ve seen your coach do a movement, stop, otherwise you’ll have a warning.’ I don’t understand why he didn’t do that.” Chair umpire Carlos Ramos issued Williams a code violation when he spotted Mouratoglou making a hand gesture toward her. This led to an argument between Williams and Ramos that escalated throughout the final. “I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose,” Williams was heard telling him. > [](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1038535131823263744) “He \[Mouratoglou\] said he made a motion,” Williams [says in a clip from the interview](https://tendaily.com.au/news/sport/a180916ngt/we-never-had-signals-serena-williams-disputes-coaching-claims-from-us-open-20180916). “I don’t understand what he was talking about. We’ve never had signals.” > [](https://twitter.com/Lisa%5FWilkinson/status/1041245298096369665) Williams also reasserted her belief that a gender-based double standard exists in tennis. “I just don’t understand,” Williams told _The Project._ “If you’re female, you should be able to do even half of what a guy can do.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/"},"headline":"Serena Williams Breaks Silence on U.S. Open Controversy","datePublished":"2018-09-17T15:43:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:52.664Z","description":"Williams maintains that she did not receive coaching in the final","url":"https://time.com/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/","keywords":["Newsfeed","tennis","serena williams","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e51893f1b030df5/69893a6d22fb85b434e26b09/serena-williams-us-open2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e51893f1b030df5/69893a6d22fb85b434e26b09/serena-williams-us-open2.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 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/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/","name":"Serena Williams Breaks Silence on U.S. Open Controversy"}}]}] ```