Most sports fans will remember the 2018 US Open Women’s Tennis final. Sadly few remember it for the result.
The media attention and the marketing leading into the match was all built around the fact that the world had the chance to watch one of the game’s greats Serena Williams tie Margaret Court’s Grand Slam singles record title at 24. Williams came into the final a heavy favourite playing against a young Naomi Osaka, who had turned 20 that year and whose idol growing up just happened to be Williams. No one gave the young player a chance.
Osaka shut everyone up and stunned the tennis world showing her talent and class sweeping aside Williams 6-2 6-4 for a straight sets victory.
The match unfortunately was an ugly affair as chair umpire Carlos Ramos of Portugal had called three code violations against Williams. The first of these was for coaching, the second for racket abuse and the third for verbal abuse. The code violations cost Williams a point and a game. Williams repeatedly clashed with Ramos, calling him “a liar” and “a thief” and saying, “I don’t cheat … You owe me an apology!” She then was heard to say to the event referee, “Because I’m a woman, you’re going to take this from me?”
What should have been a wonderful moment for Osaka as she was crowned US Open Champion saw her reduced to tears. Not tears of joy, but tears of sadness as boos rang out around the stadium from Williams fans as she was declared the winner. Much of the media attention in the following days focussed on the umpire, Williams and the tournament rules. Osaka’s moment of glory was lost.
Sadly the same has happened with the Australian women’s hockey team. Four players were added to the squad for 2021, forward Courtney Schonell and defender Meg Pearce were new additions to the squad, while Penny Squibb and goalkeeper Aleisha Power, who have both played previously for the Hockeyroos were also added.
This should have been a moment to remember for all four and hopefully it still is, but the moment has no doubt been soured by the backlash from the decision to drop the current FIH goalkeeper of the year Rachel Lynch.
One feels for Aleisha Power as the incoming goalkeeper. The 23yr old who had won Western Australian Premierships with Curtin University moved clubs in 2020 to freshen up and give herself a new challenge. She joined Victoria Park, and not only did her new side concede the least goals in the season, but they won the Minor Premiership and their first ever Premiership. How vital was she to that success?
So a return to the national team after last playing in a three match series against Japan in Adelaide in 2017 would have been the icing on the cake of what has been a great year. It hopefully still is, but one can’t help feeling that the moment has been soured.
After the US Open Serena Williams wrote to Naomi Osaka to apologise for her behaviour. In July 2019 she told The Guardian that the reason she wrote that letter “wasn’t because of the backlash I faced but rather because of what had happened to the young woman who deserved so much more in her special moment.” Osaka graciously accepted her apology and wrote back.
Ironically just as Williams was the player Osaka looked up to, Rachel Lynch is the player that Power has looked up. To be fair to Rachel Lynch she has remained mute during all of the hullabaloo that has broken out from her omission. Whether she has reached out to Power that is something only the two of them will know.
What is sad is that this up and coming player’s historic moment making the Hockeyroos squad full time for the first time has been overshadowed.
Why has this happened? It has happened because there appears not to have been any planning for the outcomes that were bound to happen when such a monumental decision was made.
In football if Ronald Koeman coach of Barcelona left out Lionel Messi any sports fan knows that he will have to explain his decision to the media and the fans. Former England coach Glenn Hoddle had the courage to leave out fan favourite Paul Gascoigne at the 1998 France World Cup. It was a hard decision to make but one he felt was the right one. He faced the media and told them, and indirectly the fans, why he had come to that decision.
The reason that we have seen this unfortunate situation arise is because the question as to why Rachel Lynch has been dropped from the squad has not been answered. That has resulted in rumours and speculation which is unfair on the player concerned.
Equally unfair are the consequences of that failure to comment. A special moment for another player starting their international career has been lost, which is very sad. Hopefully it will not tarnish in years to come her time representing her country.
Congratulations to all those new members of the squad. Congratulations Aleisha Power.
Hopefully many lessons will be learned from this situation.
Yet as this after effects of the decision play out in the public one cannot help recalling the words of the British actress Dame Emma Thompson who said “Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn’t listening.”
