King lauds Serena for calling out ‘double standard’
Serena Williams may have taken home the emotions she was going through after her controversial loss in the U.S. Open, but she seemed to be in mom mode, at least on social media, while Billie Jean King called out tennis for having a “double standard” toward women.
Williams’s only message Saturday night was a brief Instagram video of her one-year-old daughter Olympia, wearing a miniature version of her mom’s tutu and little sneakers, toddling with her beloved doll, Qai Qai.
On Sunday morning, she shared an image of a girl in firstday-of-school clothes with a Serena logo and asked, “What does your ‘S’ stand for? #beseenbeheard”
It was left for others to go beyond Williams’ remarks to reporters and King, a pioneer in women’s rights and sports, quickly stepped up. “Several things went very wrong during the U.S. Open women’s finals today,” she tweeted. “Coaching on every point should be allowed in tennis. It isn’t and, as a result, a player was penalized for the actions of her coach. This should not happen.
“When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalized for it,” she continued, echoing Williams’s point that male players are never penalized for outbursts — even the profane ones. “When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ and there are no repercussions. Thank you, Serena Williams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same.”
Williams was warned for receiving coaching during the match against Naomi Osaka, penalized a point for breaking her racket and docked a game at a critical moment for what chair umpire Carlos Ramos deemed to be verbal abuse.
Williams emotionally had told him that she does not cheat and has a daughter for whom she tries to set an example.
Afterward, she spoke about why she called Ramos a thief and how she had cited Olympia in telling him on the court, “I don’t cheat to win.”
“I can’t sit here and say I wouldn’t say he’s a thief, because I thought he took a game from me,” Williams said.
“I’ve seen other men call other umpires several things. I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff. For me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief.’ For me it blows my mind, but I’m going to continue to fight for women and to fight for us to have equal coordination — to be able to take our shirt off on the court without getting a fine. This is outrageous.
“The fact that I have to go through this is just an example for the next person that has emotions and that want to express themselves and they want to be a strong woman. They’re going to be allowed to do that because of today. Maybe it didn’t work out for me, but it’s going to work out for the next person.”
Osaka played brilliantly, something that was lost in the bizarre circumstances of the second set of her 6-2, 6-4 win.
During the second game of that set, Williams received a violation from Ramos for receiving coaching from Patrick Mouratoglou, who had made a motion from the stands that appeared to instruct Williams to go to the net more frequently.
The 23-time grand slam champion vehemently argued the call, with some of her protests audible on the ESPN broadcast.
“If he gives me a thumbs up, he’s telling me to come on,” explained Williams.
“We don’t have any code, and I know that you don’t know that and I understand why you may have thought that was coaching, but I’m telling you it’s not. I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose.”
Seemingly motivated by the violation, Williams went on a minirun to take a 3-2 lead, but her momentum was stymied after Osaka produced a critical serve break.
Williams then slammed her racket to the ground in frustration and was assessed a second violation from Ramos that resulted in a point loss.
Down 3-4 in the set, Williams told Ramos, “You stole a point from me and you are a thief.” Ramos interpreted the remark as verbal abuse, and awarded a game to Osaka, putting the eventual winner one game away from victory.
After the call, Twitter lit up with reactions.
Fans, members of the media, celebrities and casual observers weighed in, clearly taking up her cause.
USTA president Katrina Adams issued a statement after the match, making a point of noting Williams’ “class and sportsmanship” and calling her “an inspiration to me, personally, and a credit to our sport, win or lose.”