By Ashley Watts
Student Reporter
Three code violations against Serena Williams has now brought up questions for a big controversial topic in the sport of tennis.
Sexism could be the reason why famous tennis player, Serena Williams, was given a code violation during her final match at the U.S. Open. Chair umpire Carlos Ramos issued a violation after he suspected Patrick Mouratoglou for sending coaching signals during Williams match against Japan’s Naomi Osaka on Sept. 8. Williams, however, insists that her and Mouratoglou have never had signals that would count as coaching, and that she would never cheat during a tennis match. Williams then accused the umpire of sexism and called him a “thief” when he took a point away from her. This outburst led to verbal abuse violation which ended in an automatic game loss. After the entire exchange between Williams and Ramos, the fans booed non-stop when the win was handed to Osaka.
Ramos handed Williams three violations that day: the first was a warning regarding signals that could be coaching, the second a point penalty for breaking her racket; and the third an automatic loss penalty for verbal abuse. These three violations also led to a $17,000 fine for Williams.
Williams has come forward since the outburst to say that there is a double standard behind the three violations, and the first-round penalty given to Alize Cornet for changing her shirt on the court during her break. According to Williams, male tennis players have called other umpires several offensive words, but have not received any code violations or fines. But when a woman comes forward to stand up for herself, she gets penalized immediately. Williams has said she will continue to fight for gender equality in the sport. She believes that women should be able to talk to the umpire and change their shirt if needed without getting an outrageous fine. Williams feels that the next person should be able to express herself and be a strong woman on the court because of what happened that day. It might not have worked out for her, but because of what she did, perhaps it will for the next person that feels like expressing themselves.
Williams has received a remarkable response from the tennis world about sexism. Also, because she is standing up for what she believes in, maybe there will be more gender equality in the future for this sport.