She is coming back after her pregnancy, post a life-threatening complication after developing a pulmonary embolism, a controversy about her compression ‘catsuit’ (custom-made by Nike), her decision to wear a tutu and the high stakes of the event.
To add insult to injury, she was fined $17,000.
And then, Mark Knight, Australian cartoonist, decided to rub salt in the wound!
The 2018 US Open final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka will be remembered for all the wrong reasons
The match was guaranteed to make history no matter what.
Williams was gunning for her 24th Grand Slam tournament win, a number that would have tied the all-time record for the most Grand Slam singles tournament wins in history.
And Osaka was hoping to be the first Haitian-Japanese player in history to win a Grand Slam.
In the end, Osaka defeated Williams 6-2, 6-4, ensuring the latter – but her achievement was overshadowed by what happened in the match.
Mónica Puig is closing in on her new goal of raising $100,000 to assist Puerto Rico after Hurricane María battered the island, insisting that the US territory needs all the help it can get – and immediately.
Puig chose her words carefully when asked if the US’s response has been fast enough but the world No. 77 said:
“The only thing I can say is that we need help and we need it now.
I don’t want to see suffering in Puerto Rico.
“We need all the help we can get from wherever we can get it. I just don’t want to see lives lost due to this crisis. It means a lot, anyone who is willing to help. “We just need their help as quickly as possible.”
The tennis ace – who became Puerto Rico’s first ever Olympic gold medalist at last year’s Rio Games – says she has been in touch with pop superstar and fellow Puerto Rican Luis Fonsi to see what else can be done to help a week after María battered the island with torrential rains and 155-mile-per-hour winds.
As the Rio Games wrap up, AP Sports wanted the opinion of the Olympics’ fans on one of the biggest questions as we look back:
Who was the biggest breakout star?
Gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ledecky were already stars in their sports before these games, but for Olympians Simone Manuel,Joseph Schooling, Monica Puig and Ibtihaj Muhammad, the games were a true introduction to stardom.
So who had the biggest breakout in the Twitter poll?
Monica Puig of Puerto Rico, the 34th-ranked tennis player in the world, stunned world no. 2 Angelique Kerber of Germany in the Olympic gold medal match in Rio on Saturday, pulling out a history-making win in three tough sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
As soon as she won the final point, Puig dropped her racket and mouthed the words, “Oh my God.”
By making her surprising run to the finals in Rio, Puig was assured of becoming the first woman to win an Olympic medal representing Puerto Rico. Now, she’s the first person ever to win gold for the island.
~~Monica Puig wins Puerto Rico’s first ever gold~~
Rio Olympics 2016
~~Published on Aug 13, 2016~~
Tennis player Monica Puig wins Puerto Rico’s first-ever Olympics gold medal
Toaa soundtrack of “Si se puede!” from the stands, Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first gold medal in any sport in Olympic history, upsetting Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women’s tennis singles final Saturday at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Yes, she can. And, yes, she did.
Puig is also the first woman representing Puerto Rico to earn a medal of any color at an Olympics, and when she finished a tense closing game — saving six break points and converting her fourth match point — she dropped her racket and went over to collect a flag she paraded across the court.
~~Puig on Puerto Rico’s 1st gold: ‘I think I united a nation’~~
~~Published on Aug 13, 2016~~
Monica Puig defeats Germany’s Angelique Kerber in three sets to win Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal.
En un suceso histórico, la tenista ponceña Monica Puig le otorga a Puerto Rico su primera medalla de oro para la isla.
La joven de 22 años se impuso ante la alemana Angelique Kerber en un juego que paralizó a todos los boricuas dentro y fuera de la isla.
Puerto Rico ha participado en los juegos de verano desde el 1948 pero nunca antes había obtenido medalla de oro.
Monica Puig Makes Olympic History, Winning Puerto Rico’s First Gold Medal
Puerto Rico now has its first Olympic gold medal, courtesy of tennis star Monica Puig, who beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the women’s singles tournament at Rio’s Summer Olympics Saturday.
“I”m speechless,” a smiling Puig said after her historic win. “I wanted it so bad.”
“I never imagined in my wildest dreams that this would happen,” Puig added — and she said her experience in Rio de Janeiro has been like a dream. She’s looking forward, she said, to waking up tomorrow morning and seeing her gold medal sitting on her bedside table.
As for her plans after the Olympics, Puig said, “I know my life is going to change a bit.” But she said some things won’t — because, she added, “I love what I do.”
It Is What It Is 