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Serena Williams gathers support over sexism charge
News & Trends •
when a woman is emotional shes hysterical and shes penalized for it king tweeted. when a man does the same hes outspoken1 serena williamss claim that the code violations that sparked her meltdown in the us open final were sexist stirred debate with wta tour chief executive steve simon backing her on sunday1 osaka out-played her childhood hero to become the first japanese player to win a grand slam but her accomplishment was swamped in the controversy surrounding 23-time grand slam champion williams1 the american superstar claimed that chair umpire carlos ramos meted out penalties for infractions that male players could have gotten away with specifically a violation for verbal abuse after she called him a thief and a liar for warning her for coaching from her players box then docking her a point when a racquet abuse violation followed1 eventually she was docked a game putting osaka on the brink of victory1 simon said the affair brought to the forefront the question of whether different standards are applied to men and women in the officiating of matches. the wta believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men vs. women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same he said.1 we do not believe that this was done last night1 williams was most incensed by the first code violation she received for coaching from her box1 its not clear if she even saw the hand gestures by coach patrick mouratoglou sitting her box although he admitted in an interview with espn that he was trying to advise her and said all coaches do it1 yes i was coaching just like everybody else. we have to stop this hypocrisy. furthermore serena didnt even see my gestures. she felt humiliated by the warning said the frenchman1 simon said the sport as a whole should examine the rules on coaching noting that the wta already allows on-court coaching during regular tour events if a player requests it1 us great billie jean king addressed both issues also seeing things williamss way1 williams was handed three code violations and docked a point and then a game in her 6-2 6-4 loss to naomi osaka in the flushing meadows final1 national organization of women president toni van pelt weighed in with a statement calling for the usta to sever any ties to ramos for a blatantly racist and sexist move1 williamss pleas to referee brian earley and a grand slam supervisor called to the court after she failed to get satisfaction from ramos were to no avail1 the usta said in a statement after the match that the decision to hand out the final code violation and game penalty was not reviewable1 because im a woman youre going to do this to me she fumed on court and after the match williams didnt walk back that charge1 ive seen other men call other umpires several things she said. im here fighting for womens rights and for womens equality and for all kinds of stuff1 mens champion novak djokovic treaded warily when asked to weigh in on matter1 djokovic noted that it was an awkward situation for both competitors and tough for the umpire1 i have my personal opinion that maybe the chair umpire should not have pushed serena to the limit especially in a grand slam final he said1 he did change the course of the match. it was in my opinion maybe unnecessary. we all go through our emotions especially when youre fighting for a grand slam trophy1 however he said he wasnt sure sexism was at the root of ramoss decisions1 its hard to generalize things he said1