Umpire Ramos issues first code violation since Serena furore

THE chair umpire at the eye of the storm for last Saturday’s US Open final, which led to Serena Williams accusing the official of sexism, has handed out his first code violation since the furore.

Carlos Ramos issued Marin Cilic with a warning after the Croatian slammed his racket to the clay and mangled the frame during a Davis Cup loss to America’s Sam Querrey.

Since it was the first violation of the match, it was only a warning. No points were deducted and Cilic did not exchange any words with Ramos.

“Usually when you break a racket you get a code violation,” Cilic said.

Ramos issued three code violations to Serena Williams during her straight-sets loss to Naomi Osaka in the US Open final last Saturday.

The 23-times grand slam champion accused the Portuguese umpire of being a “liar” and a “thief ” and then claimed afterwards she was not being treated the same way as her male counterparts.

The normally collected Cilic lost his cool after committing a series of uncharacteristic errors late in the third set of the clash.

After winning the opening set, Cilic wasted a 6-1 lead in the second-set tiebreak.

Cilic couldn’t recall the last time he had smashed a racket.

“I don’t know,” he said, adding that “it’s always a little bit more nervous” to play in the Davis Cup.

Querrey, who played in place of Steve Johnson, rallied to win 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4 to even the best-of-five semi-final at 2-2.

Borna Coric then beat Frances Tiafoe 6-7 (0/7), 6-1, 6-7 (11/13), 6-1, 6-3 in over four hours to secure a 3-2 victory.