Being honorable is being paid dearly in sports, it seems. Serena, you owe your title to your opponent. Without her playing properly against Ivanovic, you would be home now.
EDIT
Well, at least she recognized Simona's fair-play at the interview after the match. I'll take that.
Hop Suisse! Switzerland leading 2 - 1 after the doubles match in the Davis Cup final. Federer has the chance to close it against Gasquet, match starts in about 20 minutes.
First set, Federer. 6 - 4 ...
Second set, Federer, 6 - 2 ... Two sets gone in 71 minutes!
They had to win it now or never, and King Rodger adds another achievement to his name:)
But wasn't there any other player available than Gasquet? He was rather bad in the double and it was soon clear he wouldn't be winning against Federer, who lost to the well-playing Monfils.
I feel a bit sorry for the double of Chiudinelli/Lammer as they trained the with the coach of the Bryant-Brothers(David McPherson?) to prepare, but they decided to swap with the two aces to win the double.
The bonus money might be small to Stan the Man and King Rodger, but for players like Chiudinelli and Lammer, it's quite a nice amount;)
Also, I shouldn't forget how important Wawrinka's win against Tsonga was. He led the team when Federer was still searching for his form after his back problem.
There was nearly no day without any news about it in the Swiss papers...
Quote ( theguardian.com @ September 10th 2018,09:19:00 BST )
Following the match, the United States Tennis Association, which runs the US Open, released a statement from its president, Katrina Adams, hailing Williams for her “class” and “sportsmanship".
I am a USTA certified tennis official and worked for tennis tournament. Personally, I believe it is more Serena's issue.
She might not see the coaching, but the Chair Umpire saw it and per the rule, the first code violation valid.
When she smashed the racket, she is starting lose temper although the communication with the Chair Umpire is okay. This is really a racket abuse so no problem with this and per the Point Penalty System, it is a point penalty for 2nd code violation.
For the third one, if you see the video, you can see Serena is consistent talk to the Chair Umpire, saying "You owe me an apology. Say it! Say Sorry to me." Do you think that is a 23 Majors winner's performance? That is understandable given her position but it is naive and unprofessional.
So Carlos Ramos issued the 3rd code violation, but it was not in a good time frame (as I see it, Osaka is also ready to serve and he issued the CV and asked ballkids to pass the ball to Serena's side).