US Open 2018: Serena Williams’ claims of sexism backed by WTA

• Posted on September 10, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

Serena Williams’ claims of sexism in the US Open final have been backed by the governing body of women’s tennis.

WTA chief executive Steve Simon said the umpire showed Williams a different level of tolerance of Saturday’s outbursts than if she had been a man.

She got a code violation for coaching, a penalty point for racquet abuse and a game penalty for calling the umpire a “thief” in the loss to Naomi Osaka.

The American said it was “sexist” to have been penalised a game.

“The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men vs. women,” Simon said in a statement.

“We do not believe that this was done last night.”

He also called for coaching to be allowed “across the sport”. Umpire Carlos Ramos penalised Williams after seeing her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, making a hand gesture. The Frenchman later admitted he was trying to coach his player.

The head of the United States Tennis Association, which organises the US Open, said men “are badgering the umpire on the changeovers and nothing happens”.

“We watch the guys do this all the time,” USTA chief Katrina Adams said.

“There’s no equality when it comes to what the men are doing to the chair umpires and what the women are doing, and I think there has to be some consistency across the board.

“I’m all about gender equality and I think when you look at that situation these are conversations that will be imposed in the next weeks. We have to treat each other fairly and the same.”

Those views were shared by BBC tennis presenter Sue Barker, who said: “I’ve sat courtside watching the men ranting at umpires and they haven’t been given a violation.”

Williams was fined $17,000 (£13,100) for the code violations that included calling Ramos a “liar” and “thief”. She earned $1.85m (£1.43m) in prize money for reaching the final.

Umpire should not have pushed Williams to the limit – Djokovic
Novak Djokovic was asked about Williams’ outbursts after he won a third men’s US Open title on Sunday by beating Juan Martin del Potro.

He said the interventions by umpire Carlos Ramos were “unnecessary” and said they “changed the course of the match”.

“I have my personal opinion that maybe the chair umpire should not have pushed Serena to the limit, especially in a Grand Slam final,” the Serb said.

But Djokovic said he did not see things in the same way as WTA chief Simon, adding: “I don’t understand from where he’s coming with that statement.”

The 14-time Grand Slam champion also described the situation as “tough” for the umpire and said “we have to empathise with him”.

Controversy in women’s doubles

A day after Osaka was left in tears during an awkward and toxic trophy presentation in which Williams urged booing to stop, there was more controversy in the women’s doubles.

American CoCo Vandeweghe and Australian Ashleigh Barty said they were hustled off court shortly before the men’s final, unable to deliver a victory speech after receiving their trophy.

“We couldn’t thank anyone. I think that was poor form,” said American Vandeweghe. “Maybe they’ll do us right in Australia since the U.S. couldn’t do me right.”

Barty added they were rushed off because “the men needed to start”.

“To be honest, I don’t think they [Djokovic and Del Potro] would have worried if they were 10 or 15 minutes delayed,” the Australian said.

Inconsistency ‘bothers’ Azarenka

Williams was given a code violation in the final after Ramos ruled that her coach Patrick Mouratoglou was signalling tactics from the stands.

After the match, Mouratoglou admitted he had been coaching, but added “I don’t think she looked at me” and “everybody does it”.

The incident has raised debate on the consistency of the coaching rules which state:

Players can not receive coaching during a Grand Slam match (including the warm-up). Communications of any kind, audible or visible, between a player and a coach may be construed as coaching.

On-court coaching is allowed by the WTA at its Tour-level events.

Coaching from the stands is allowed in the US Open qualifying rounds between points.

Simon said: “We think the issue of coaching needs to be addressed and should be allowed across the sport. The WTA supports coaching through its on-court coaching rule, but further review is needed.”

Belarusian two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka said it “bothers” her that there is “too much of a grey area” in these rules.

“The umpire can choose to exercise it or not,” she said in a live video on her Instagram page. “We either have a rule for all times or we don’t. That is my problem with it.

“Why is there so much difference? I don’t get that. There has to be a clear rule to it. If it happened in the men’s match, it would not happen again. That is the problem. It is the inconsistency.”

Source: BBC