I’ll admit I don’t watch as much tennis as I used to, so it’s hard for me to put the magnitude of the transgression(s) in perspective, whether the men really do get away with more. But even if we grant that, after that, Serena lost her cool, she threw a tantrum and broke a raquet, and that’s an objective penalty,…

You’re too good at sarcasm. Please stick a /s on the end of subsequent posts so people realize you are kidding.

Well, he said it out loud to a member of the ESPN announcing crew on live TV and every person who watched the match saw and heard him say it into a microphone: “Yes, I was coaching her.”

That’s just how the rules work. They can’t penalize the coach. They could tell him to leave the venue, I suppose, but the rules say the player gets a warning. The coach should be better at hiding it. 

Definitely agree, after watching the first set it was clear Serena would need a miracle to beat Osaka the way that she was playing.

It’s a point we all should bear in mind, but it’s harder to make when her adversary is not a white ponytailed American favourite, and when this happened in a match that she was already clearly losing. If she’d suffered an injustice, say, against Maria Sharapova in a tournament held in St. Petersburg, in a match in…

strange that you think that Serena wasn’t “prepared for Osaka today”. I don’t think that the outcome had anything to do with preparation. I think that Serena simply didn’t have the game to handle Naomi’s controlled power.

In 2009 and 2011, when Williams had similar outbursts against officials, she was also being handily outplayed in those matches. Serena is hands down the best female tennis player of all time, but ffs, stop taking it out on the chair when another player is having the better day.

Counterpoint:

She is not unfairly criticized and has a history of abusing match officials.

2009 is a classic (start at the 14:20 mark), of course, but I am also partial to the 2011 variety:
“After what she thought was a controversial call against her, Williams went into a tirade against chair umpire Eva Asderaki, …

That sort of frustration isn’t unusual for top-level athletes, and yeah...there’s something of a pattern there. When she was penalized for threatening a line official, she was a couple points away from being upset by Kim Clijsters. Her 2011 blow-up came while she was losing to Sam Stosur. She’s a fantastic player, but…

Anyone who puts an asterisk next to her win is a moron. That was a demolition with or without those absurd rulings. 

Your contention is that Serena Williams - 20x Grand Slam winner, greatest female tennis player of all time - does not know that a coaching violation (of which she was clearly aware) is a code violation and the next will result in a point penalty?

total agreeance.  Naomi won that and was COMPLETELY upstaged by second place.  Kudos to her and I wish it was better circumstances.

Looked to me like Serena was frustrated because she was getting overpowered, where she’s usually the overpowering one. Osaka played great and was a force out there.

Gotta agree. Osaka outplayed her, no question. I feel bad she couldn’t enjoy this victory, because she earned it.

... She’s all class because her terrible behavior ruined Osaka’s first GS win, but she tried to make it somewhat better after the fact?

The umpire was right on all three of those calls. It sounds like Williams thought the “coaching” warning was rescinded because she told the umpire she’s not a cheater, but of course that’s not how that penalty works. The call is made against the coach (who admitted he was coaching from the stands), so the player can’t…

Yeah I’ve never seen a champion quite so sad before. It was pretty heartbreaking.

I felt so bad for her I was crying. Just like you said, imagine having your childhood dream come true and this shit hanging over it. Forever. I have total faith she'll go on to have a monster career, and I hope she'll be able to put this behind her.

I don’t think you need to worry about that.