Serena Williams made headlines this weekend at the U.S.
Open, and this time it wasn’t for winning the title. Saturday evening Williams faced off against
Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open final that ended with some controversy to say the
least.
Williams was penalized one point and one game in the second
set, which Williams ended up losing six to four. The penalties were a result of a second and
third code violation. Williams was visibly upset during the match and
verbalized her frustrations with chair umpire. Williams was issued a warning because
her coach allegedly signaled to her during the match. She was then given a
second violation, worth a point, for throwing her racket down and breaking it
in frustration. The third and final violation, which really sent Williams over
the edge, was for calling the umpire a thief, and she was penalized a full
game—eventually leading to her loss.
I am here to defend Serena Williams. I am not saying that
she was right for breaking her racket or calling the umpire a thief, but male
players consistently do worse without being penalized. Williams being penalized for breaking a
racket is laughable. Male players do
this regularly in major tournaments when they’re frustrated and don’t get
penalized. I’m not here to say that you
should allow tennis players to violently slam down their rackets, but if a male
player does not get punished for it, why should Williams?
This is one of tennis’s biggest stages, and she is one of
the greatest to ever take the court.
Getting penalized a full game for calling an umpire a thief is just a
horrible occurrence. As an umpire you
don’t want to be verbally attacked, but in that moment, on that stage, you have
to let it go. The penalty of a full game
was punitive. Once again, it was an instance where male players don’t get
penalized for saying that (or far worse things) to an umpire, but she does.
Legendary male tennis player John McEnroe made a career out of saying vulgar
things to umpires and is celebrated for it.
Williams does it once and is ridiculously criticized and penalized, perhaps
because she is a woman.
Williams is arguably the game’s greatest and most dominant (female)
player ever. Men’s tennis often takes a
backseat to women’s tennis in this era because of her. The highest rated U.S. Open match of all time
was a matchup of Serena and Venus Williams in the 2015 quarterfinals.
She is the sport’s best athlete, but because she is a woman
she is not allowed to have frustrations on the court? Or voice her opinion to the ref? I’m fine if tennis wants to say that those
two things are penalties, but if they are, then penalize both men and women for
it. Don’t just penalize Williams, and
don’t do it on the game’s biggest stage.
What I watched happen to her was just wrong. Williams said in the post-match press
conference that the umpire was being sexist, and she’s right. There is no way a man would’ve been penalized
a whole game for calling him a thief.
This is an incredible disservice to the best tennis player we’ve ever
seen.