Serena Williams 'pushed to the limit' by umpire in US Open Final, says Novak Djokovic

'Pushed to the limit': Serena Williams takes her frustrations out on her racket
AP
Paul Newman10 September 2018

Novak Djokovic believes that Carlos Ramos, the umpire who clashed with Serena Williams in the US Open women’s singles final here on Saturday, was wrong to have “pushed her to the limit”.

The Serb, who beat Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday to claim the men’s title here for a third time, said that the incidents in the women’s final, won by Japan’s Naomi Osaka, were “a tough thing for a chair umpire to deal with”, but thought that Ramos, who gave Williams three code violations and deducted a point and a game from her, had changed the course of the match.

Describing the official’s actions as “unnecessary”, Djokovic said: “We all go through our emotions, especially when you’re fighting for a Grand Slam trophy.

“I have my personal opinion that maybe the chair umpire should not have pushed Serena to the limit, especially in a Grand Slam final.”

But he disagreed with a statement issued by Steve Simon, the chief executive officer of the Women’s Tennis Association, who backed Williams’ claim that umpires do not treat female players in the same way as men.

Williams accused Ramos of sexism, claiming that he had never deducted a game from a male player for calling him “a thief”.

The 23-times Grand Slam champion had called Ramos just that after the official deducted a point from her following her second code violation of the match.

Ramos judged her subsequent comments to be verbal abuse and issued a third code violation, which carried the one-game penalty.

Simon said: “The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men versus women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same. We do not believe that this was done.”

In Pictures | Serena Williams confronts US Open final umpire

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Djokovic said: “I don’t see things as Mr Simon does. I think men and women are treated in this way or the other way depending on the situation. It’s hard to generalise things.”

Simon also called for changes to the rules about on-court coaching. In WTA events, players are allowed to call their coaches on to the court, but all forms of communication between players and coaches are banned during Grand Slam tournaments

Umpire Ramos gave Williams three code violations and deducted a point and a game from her
AFP/Getty Images

“We think the issue of coaching needs to be addressed and should be allowed across the sport,” Simon said. “The WTA supports coaching through its on-court coaching rule, but further review is needed.”

Williams’ first code violation came after Ramos saw her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, making gestures to her from her player box. He later admitted coaching her but Williams denied it.

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