Serena serves furious volley of insults at ‘sexist’ umpire
NEVER has a smashed racket and a signal from a coach caused such a furore.
But last night tennis found itself engulfed in an acrimonious sexism row after Serena Williams accused a male umpire of treating her shabbily because she was a woman.
Williams, 36, may have suffered a meltdown in the second set against Naomi Osaka that cost her the US Open final in the process.
But last night, she was winning the public relations battle as both male and female players leapt to her defence in agreeing she had been the victim of sexism.
Williams was given a warning for being illegally coached, then lost a point for smashing a racket and, finally, docked a game for calling the umpire a “liar” and a “thief”. The sanctions put her on the brink of defeat to Osaka, 20, her Japanese opponent.
But it was Carlos Ramos, the Portuguese umpire, who was facing the backlash last night. Tennis aficionados largely could not decide if he was a terrible stickler for the rules or an outand-out sexist accused of overreacting to Williams’s outburst. He was accused of doling out harsher treatment to Williams than he would have dared to a top male player.
The deduction of the game left Williams, who gave birth to her first child last year, on the brink of defeat at 5-3 and a set down. She summoned the match referee to complain she was being treated unfairly by Ramos because she was a woman and at a tearful press conference after the loss complained: “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 ’.” The crowd at Flushing Meadows in New York agreed, booing the umpire, who did not to return to the court to pick up the usual memento for chairing a final. Billie Jean King was prominent in leaping to Williams’s defence. “When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysterical’ and she’s penalised for it. When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’ and there are no repercussions,” tweeted the winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles. “Thank you, @serenawilliams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same.”
Sue Barker, the BBC presenter and former French Open champion, said the decision to penalise Williams a game was “sexist”, adding: “The umpire was following the rules by the book but Serena has a point.”
Male tennis players chimed in. “I’ve said worse and I’ve never gotten a game penalty,” said Andy Roddick, a former US Open champion and world No1, posting on Twitter: “Worst refereeing I’ve ever seen ... the worst!” James Blake, another former leading US player, said: “I will admit I have said worse and not gotten penalised. Sad to mar a well-played final that way.”
The Washington Post condemned Ramos, accusing him of being unable to cope with a woman berating him. Williams’s outburst was “compressed and controlled”, declared the newspaper. “All Ramos had to do was to continue to sit coolly above it, and Williams would have channelled herself back into the match. But he couldn’t take it. He wasn’t going to let a woman talk to him that way. A man, sure. Ramos has put up with worse from a man.” Tennis fans pointed out that in 2016 Ramos had accused Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister, of receiving coaching during a match at the French Open. “I’m 36 years old. I play fair,” Venus told him at the time.
This year’s US Open organisers had already been accused of sexism after Alize Cornet, a French player, was given a code violation for changing her shirt at the back of the court, briefly showing her sports bra for several seconds. In contrast, male players are allowed to go topless at changes of ends.
Williams saw her ranking plummet from number one to 453rd after she took time out to have a baby. The black catsuit she wore on her return at the French Open also irked officials. She has previously acted as an advocate for female and black athletes, calling for equal pay for black women. She also praised Andy Murray af- ter he corrected a reporter who said Sam Querrey was the “first US player to reach a major semi-final since 2009”.
In July, she reached the Wimbledon final less than a month after giving birth to her daughter, and dedicated her performance to “all mums out there”. She spoke afterwards about her feelings of not being a “good mom” and balancing being a parent with the demands of her career.
Not everyone, however, saw the US Open incident Williams’s way. Andrew Castle, the former player and now television commentator, pointed out she had suffered meltdowns before. On her way to losing to Kim Clijsters at the same tournament in 2009, Williams reportedly ranted at a lineswoman: “I swear to God I’ll ----ing take the ball and shove it down your ----ing throat.”
Castle wrote on Twitter: “Not sure how any unbiased observer who knows the rules and history of tennis can look at what happened and defend Serena... You just can’t act like that, I’m afraid.
‘I’m fighting for women’s rights ... for me to say “thief ” and for him to take a game, it [felt] like a sexist remark’
Serena now claiming that men do this. More nonsense. This is not right.”
Richard Ings, a former rules and competition chief for the ATP, defended Ramos and called on the sport’s governing bodies to support him. “When coaches and players threaten the employment of umpires, it falls to the governing bodies to defend officials just doing their job,” he said.
Last night, Williams was fined $17,000 (£13,000), small change for the world’s richest female athlete. But what will have hurt was losing a final that would have taken her level with Margaret Court, the Australian with 24 Grand Slam singles titles. Court said yesterday: “It’s sad when a player tries to become bigger than the rules. I think pressure got her more than anything.” Sport: Pages 1-3