Serena Williams is an American professional tennis player. Throughout her 23-year pro career, Williams has been successful. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles which broke Steffi Graf’s Open era record and four Olympic gold medals among an unprecedented trophy haul. Williams also redefined women’s tennis introducing a new era of skill, power and athleticism.
Along the way, Williams has become famous for speaking out when confronted with what she feels is injustice on the court. However Williams does not always use tone the sport traditionally expects of its female champions. According to the Washington Post, Williams has “pushed the boundaries with some officials and crossed the line with others”, such as when she threatened to shove a ball down the throat of a line judge for calling a foot fault during a semifinal of the 2009 U.S. Open, a violation that cost her a point, the match and a record $82,500 fine.
During the U.S. Open Final on Sept. 8, Williams lost to the Haitian-Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka. Williams feels that she should have won the game because the calls “were a little sexist” towards her. These calls that would usually be disregarded in Men’s tennis games were suddenly being detected against her. Williams was first warned after her coach Patrick Mouratoglou was seen communicating with her via a hand gesture. After the umpire Carlos Ramos called her out, Williams said, “I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose.”
Williams was later docked a point after smashing her racket. The 36-year-old, who was chasing a record-equalling 24th grand slam title, received further punishment after verbally abusing the umpire Williams called him a “thief” and a “liar” in a heated exchange that went on for some time, which resulted in her third violation for verbal abuse.
“I think it was really unfortunate how the whole situation went down and overshadowed the match and most importantly Naomi Osaka’s first grand slam win,” Winthrop women’s tennis player Megan Kauffman said. “I feel that the coaching violation against Serena was a bit unnecessary and resulted in the referee becoming much too involved in the outcome of the match.”
Williams pleaded her case through tears to the two of them, insisting she is always treated unfairly at this event. Williams also said that men have called umpires much worse and not been penalized, but there was no budge in the score. Williams lost the match and was fined $17,000 for her remarks. Despite the situation, Williams continues to fight injustice against women in sports.
