Serena Williams have been fined by the US Tennis Association after she lost her cool on umpire Carlos Ramos when 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, her opponent.
The coaching violation costed her $4000 while a second violation of racquet abuse costed her $3000. The verbal attack on the umpire costed her $10,000. Her third violation happened after she lost to the Japanese player and she became the first Japanese player to win the Grand Slam title.
Williams insisted that her coach Patrick Mouratoglou had not been coaching her even though the Frenchman told ESPN that he had and that all coaches do it.
“I just texted Patrick, like, What is he talking about? Because we don’t have signals. We have never discussed signals,” said Williams. “I’ve seen other men call other umpires several things. I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality,” she added.
“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’. For me it blows my mind. But I’m going to continue to fight for women.” the 36-year-old said.
Video Courtesy: ESPN/USPA/TSN