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Naomi Osaka Just Won a Second Grand Slam Title—and Becomes Tennis's No. 1 Female Player


You might remember Naomi Osaka from last year’s controversial U.S. Open final: The Japanese-born 21-year-old tennis pro beat her longtime idol Serena Williams and accepted her trophy amid boos from audience members, who felt Williams had been unfairly penalized by a ref. It was a tough moment for Osaka—but she just asserted herself again by securing a second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

Osaka, who plays for Japan, showed that she’s a force to be reckoned with by edging out Czech player Petra Kvitova on Saturday. She’d lost her second set during the match but rallied and wound up finishing strong. Her victory means she’ll move up in the rankings to become No. 1, making her the first Asian player of any gender to hold that spot.

“I felt like I didn’t want to have any regrets,” Osaka said. “I think if I didn’t regroup after the second set, then I would have looked back on this match and probably cried or something.”

Now, Osaka has made history. She’s also proved her staying power after the contentious match she played against Williams, which was so intense that Osaka publicly burst into tears and, in a heartbreaking moment, apologized to the booing crowd. Despite the difficulty of the moment, Osaka revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that Williams, who directed the audience to stop jeering, had also whispered some encouraging words in her ear after they’d played.

“She said that she was proud of me and that I should know that the crowd wasn’t booing at me,” Osaka said. “So I was really happy with what she said. At the time, I did kind of think they were booing at me. I couldn’t tell what was going on because it was just so loud in there, so it was a little bit stressful.”

No such booing overshadowed her victory at the Australian Open today. Congrats to Osaka—and her new No. 1 ranking.

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French Tennis Player Alize Cornet Was Penalized for Fixing Her Shirt on the Court at the 2018 U.S. Open


It hasn’t even been a week since the controversy over Serena Williams‘ French Open attire, and now the tennis world once again finds itself embroiled in a dustup over what is appropriate for women in the sport.

At the 2018 U.S. Open, French player Alizé Cornet was given a code violation by a chair umpire for removing her shirt on the court, after she realized she was wearing it backward. According to the official Women’s Tennis Association rulebook, female players can change their shirts only off-court. There’s no comparable rule for the men—some of whom, like Novak Djokovic, openly sat shirtless with no repercussions multiple times yesterday.

Cornet had just returned from a 10-minute heat break (it’s currently sweltering in New York), during which she changed her shirt. When she got on the court, she realized she had put it on backward, so she quickly took off the shirt and turned it around. The whole switch took about 10 seconds. The chair umpire who issued the code violation was male.

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Social media users were quick to call out the double standard in Cornet’s situation. That includes Billie Jean King, who wrote on Twitter, “This rule is outdated and impractical.”

Shortly after the incident, the U.S Open issued a statement to clarify its position. “Players who do change their shirts will not be assessed a code violation,” US Open director of communications Chris Widmaier said. “We regret that Ms. Cornet was assessed a code violation. However, luckily, she was assessed a warning only and there was no further penalty above a warning.”

“When possible, if a more private location is near a court and is requested, that player will be allowed to go to that private location to change, and they will not be assessed a bathroom break,” the statement continued. “We follow WTA procedures regarding bathroom breaks. A quick change of attire will not considered one of their two bathroom breaks.” Widmaier said no code violations for similar actions will be assessed going forward in the tournament.

While the U.S. Open may have backpedaled on the issue now, it’s all too clear that the powers-that-be in women’s tennis need to take a look at the ways they are policing their female players’ bodies and attire.

On Friday Bernard Giudicelli of the French Tennis Federation said they would “impose certain limits” on clothing that can be worn during the tournament, beginning with the 2019 French Open. This was in response to Williams’ catsuit (worn back in May), which he said went “too far” and would not be allowed next year.

PHOTO: Jean Catuffe

“It will no longer be accepted,” Giudicelli said. “One must respect the game and the place.”

In an interview with The Cut published today, tennis legend Billie Jean King said of the policing of women’s outfits on the court: “Fashion usually dictates our freedoms. Back in the old days, our wrists and our ankles couldn’t be shown. If you look at the fashion every decade in women’s tennis—which is very small—you can see how things are changing in the world for us: our freedoms, the way we dress, which is good. But I never hear them really talk about how the guys should dress.”

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Bella Hadid Responds to Rumors She's Dating NBA Player Jordan Clarkson


Bella Hadid may or may not have a new guy in her life. According to Us Weekly, she’s been spending time with Los Angeles Lakers player Jordan Clarkson. A source—so, grain of salt—told the magazine that the pair hung out in New York City on December 12 after the Lakers lost to the New York Knicks. Bella and Jordan’s squad that night included his teammate, Brandon Ingram, models Hailey Baldwin and Camila Morrone, and singer Justine Skye, among other pals. According to one onlooker, “It was a big crew, and they were in a private room.” Since then, according to this source, Bella and Jordan have reportedly been casually dating. Or, as he or she put it, “They’ve been hanging out the past few weeks.”

Bella, however, has spoken out on Twitter to set things straight. After Perez Hilton tweeted out an article about the possible romance, Bella responded with, “I am? ?.” It seems the rumor was as much news to her as to anyone else.

Jordan was previously linked to Kendall Jenner, but it looks like the two are on good terms considering that they were spotted hanging out with mutual friends last year after they had ended things.

You might also be wondering if there’s anything still happening between Bella and her ex The Weeknd. After the “Starboy” singer broke up with Selena Gomez, there were reports that he and Bella were hanging out again. But it sounds like the two were simply catching up and mending their friendship.

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