Serena Williams, a tennis great, has in recent months displayed what she is all about having fought her way back onto the tennis circuit and made her comeback, it seemed as if up until this weekend it had been a great success for the 24-time Grand Slam Winner. She has been level headed, taken everything that has been thrown at her and has performed extremely well after the birth of her child Alexis. Her run in Wimbledon was nothing short of inspirational, even if she fell to the overpowering Kerber in the final, but now this.
Sunday's final was expected to be a straight shootout between two great players. One, up and coming and full of youthful exuberance, and the other trying to claim a 24th Grand Slam singles title. Williams' clash with Osaka was meant to be all of this and more, but instead it was overshadowed by controversy, anger and ludicrous claims by one of the players.
What Happened?
The controversy began with Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou attempting to coach Williams mid game and, as per the rules, Ramos, the umpire, acted accordingly and warned Williams that it could not happen again. So therefore, when Williams smashed her racquet three games later Ramos was given no other option, he had to award a point to Osaka.
The question you have to ask yourself is: would this instant have provoked the same media response if Williams had not reacted in the way she did? Would it have been deemed sexist or even racist? The answer to these questions is indeed a resounding no. The awarding of the point may have been seen as a turning point, maybe even pivotal, but no one could have read into it what Williams did.
So, Williams would go on to call Ramos a 'liar' and 'thief' and demanded him to 'say you are sorry' on her way to a straight set 6-2 6-4 defeat to Osaka and would ultimately be fined $17,000 for her code violations by the US Tennis Association.
Does she deserve our sympathy?
Following the match Williams said,
"This is just an example for the next person that has emotions, that wants to express themselves and wants to be a strong woman.
"They're going to be allowed to do that because of today. Maybe it didn't work out for me, but it's going to work out for the next person."
This is indeed a valid point as sexism is present in the tennis world and this is an opinion that I am sure everyone can agree on. But, Ramos is harsh to both male and female players and has had run ins in the past with both sexes. He was abiding by the laws of the game and Williams had no right to victimise herself. Not sexism, but instead highlighting an important issue, it was wrong to scrutinise the umpire. The rules of tennis must change due to this and there can be no more ambiguity about it, the rules must be the same for both sexes and must be put out in black and white. Williams has been the catalyst in this movement, but Ramos has, let’s remember through all of this, done nothing wrong.
At the end of my argument I have to conclude that rules are rules and they must be applied to the match, if Williams doesn't like this fact then it is tough on her. Ramos was no sexist or a racist he was just a tennis umpire, doing his job in one of the biggest tennis matches of recent times. Williams deserves respect for bringing this issue to light, but the way she has done it shouldn't gain any sympathy from anyone.
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