Serena Williams - 23 Grand Slam Singles Titles, 319 weeks at No. 1, Olympic Gold Medalist, Mother.
My respect for Serena Williams and what she has done for tennis and the obstacles she has had to overcome in her lifetime goes beyond words. However, I believe she put a huge dent in her legacy on Saturday and left a sour taste in everyone's mouth, as the 2018 US Open will not be remembered for the young Japanese and first time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka but for the "Serena Williams Incident"
I have just finished watching the "Being Serena" documentary, which is very in depth and very open about Serena's life since announcing her pregnancy. She has already dealt with the loss of her sister in the past and returned to the top of the game after suffering a blood clot and nearly losing her life. After giving birth in September 2017 she experienced another blood clot, which created 3 further surgeries and again her life was threatened. Serena is a strong woman and after overcoming the post birth scare she was back on her feet, to everyone's disbelief, playing a WTA Masters tournament in March 2018 at Indian Wells.
This feat shows her character and strong nature, however, on Saturday September 8th 2018 she behaved in away that disgraced herself and her name. No person should be spoken to the way she spoke to the umpire, Carlos Ramos, and no person should be expected to tolerate that type of behavior.
Grand Slam tournaments have a penalty procedure in place for any violations of the coaching rules.
- A first offense is followed by a warning
- A second offense by the deduction of a point
- All subsequent offenses by the deduction of a game.
- Ultimately, a player could be defaulted.
Serena accumulated a total of three violations, for three different offenses that culminated in her eventually being deducted a game.
The First Violation - Coaching
It clearly states in the Grand Slam rule book Section L in "Article III -- Player On-Site Offense":
"Players shall not receive coaching during a match (including the warm-up). Communications of any kind, audible or visible, between a player and a coach may be construed as coaching."
Serena's coach admitted during an interview after the match:
‘I am honest. I was coaching. I don’t think she looked one time.’
Whether Serena looked or not is irrelevant. Ramos (and television cameras) observed Serena's coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, making hand gestures that appeared to suggest Williams move forward, presumably to rush the net, which resulted in an immediate warning towards Serena. Who's fault is this? The coaches fault!! Who is punished? The player!! Is it a personal attack on the player and a questioning of their character? Certainly not! However, it is the players responsibility to accept the warning, control their emotions and move on with the rest of the match, as most other players do. This incident was the trigger for all that came later. Williams just couldn't let it go.
Serena took this as a personal attack labeling her as a cheater and she demanded an apology from Ramos, pointedly telling him "I don't cheat." The irony here is Serena has never been a favorable target for the coaching police. She doesn't even allow herself the on-court coaching permitted by the WTA at its tour-level events.
Nevertheless not once did Ramos insinuate or call her a cheater nor did he blame her for the coaching gesture that was made, however, the coach was at fault and the player was punished.
She continued at Ramos, ‘It was not coaching. I do not cheat to win. I would rather lose. I just want you to know that,’
Most players have stated that "Everyone" knows the coaches spend their time signalling and offering advice, throughout matches, to their players BUT these coaches DON'T GET CAUGHT......that often. I also want to bring to attention that at least two other players received code violations for coaching during the 2018 US Open Championships, including Dominika Cibulkova (seeded 29 in the tournament) during her third-round match
In 2015 I read an article in The Independent newspaper in the UK. I found this article online and will share the link but I would like to highlight a paragraph from this article that addresses the coaching penalties from 2010-2015:
In the last five years 24 fines have been issued to male players at Grand Slam events for on-court coaching. Djokovic has been fined twice – at the 2011 Australian Open and 2013 US Open. Rafael Nadal has also been fined twice for coaching over the same period. The Spaniard received the biggest coaching fine to be issued since 2010 when he was penalised $4,000 at last year’s Australian Open (2014). Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet are among those who have also fallen foul of the rules.
This shows that big name players HAVE been targeted and at big name tournaments. This does not include all ATP tournaments and only takes the four Grand Slams into account. Therefore, no one should judge Serena's violation on the scale of the event, the timing of the match and/or address the fact that coaching violations are "rarely given in our sport" This would be a false argument.
The Second Violation - Racket Abuse
The Grand Slam rule book states:
Abuse of racquets or equipment is defined as intentionally, dangerously and violently destroying or damaging racquets.
This was a clear violation of the rules when Serena smashed her racket into the court. The result was a second code violation and therefore a point penalty was applied. At 0-15 and 3-3 some composure could have been applied and some pressure on Naomi's serve still could of been created. In this case the point penalty was perceived as a point "stolen" as Serena still believed the original violation shouldn't have been given and she just could not redirect her focus and manage her emotions from this instance.
Let the verbal tirade begin........
The Third Violation - Verbal Abuse
According to the Grand Slam rules:
‘verbal abuse is defined as a statement about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator, or other person that implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise abusive.’
Let's look at an important part of Serena's continuous rant at the umpire and ask yourself, if someone spoke to you with those words and in that manner, would you be OK with it?
‘You owe me an apology. You will never ever ever be on another court of mine as long as you live. You are a liar. Say it, say you’re sorry. You stole a point from me. You’re a thief, too.’
"A liar and a thief" - does this imply dishonesty? YES! Is it derogatory? YES! So what's the problem? It seems that this is a clear violation of the rule and a code violation should be given, which it was. Unfortunately for Serena, this was now her third violation which results in the deduction of a game. She has accumulated the violation herself, she knows the rules and what the penalties are and yet she is surprised when a third violation is given and she is penalized a game? Maybe she needs a refresher on the rules and penalties?
Instead she called the supervisors on court and began to accuse Carlos Ramos of being sexist and that he would never of given a violation to a male player if they had used the word thief. Firstly, I ask Serena to find an instance where a male player has used that word towards Ramos and he did not hand them a violation, as I believe this has not happened and therefore is an irrelevant argument. Secondly, lets not use other umpires as examples. We all know some umpires may have been softer on the ruling or not confident enough to take a hard line on the rules that involved a BIG player on the BIG stage in a BIG match at a BIG moment but that is why Carlos Ramos is sitting in the chair for the Women's Finals, he is one of the best.
He is described one of the top GOLD BADGE umpires on the tour and has been officiating since 1991. He has developed a reputation for strict adherence to rules, to the point of being described as a "stickler". According to tennis experts, Ramos is one of the few umpires who isn't afraid to call a rules violation against elite players. Considering how long Serena has been on the tour (Turned Pro in Oct 1995) She would surely be aware of Ramos and his strict nature.
Serena continued to unload her frustrations on the tournament supervisors with accusations of being targeted and unfairly punished because she was a women:
“To lose a game for saying thief, it’s not fair. How many other men do things? There’s a lot of men out here who have said a lot of things. It’s because I am a woman, and that’s not right.”
Lets address the sexism issue. I want to include a few occasions where Carlos Ramos has handed out code violations for verbal abuse or unsportsmanlike conduct to some of the men's biggest stars for acts which could be seen as just as trivial if not more so:
2016 French Open: Ramos issued a code violation to Nick Kyrgios after the he shouted at a ball boy for his towel.
2016 Rio Olympics: Ramos issued a code violation to Andy Murray after Murray criticized Ramos' "stupid umpiring".
2017 French Open: Ramos penalized Novak Djokovic for unsportsmanlike conduct after he flicked a tennis ball at a ball boy behind him after motioning it towards Ramos suggesting he could fire it in the direction of the umpire.
It's not the question of the umpires integrity that led to this meltdown nor is it a case of sexism (evidence can be found on the tour that sexism does take place in other incidents, however, this instance is not the time to focus on that as those are separate issues) It all comes down to Serena not abiding by the rules in place and being unable to handle her emotions when the penalties were rightfully applied and one could argue the fact that the match was slipping way from her and she allowed her focus to deviate onto these violations to distract her mind from the potential upcoming loss.
Some players and high profile names brought up a couple of other incidents from this years US Open to back up the sexism claims:
"Earlier in the tournament we saw Alize Cornet being given a code violation for changing her shirt on court and then in the same tournament Mohamed Lahyani gets down from his chair to talk to Nick Kyrgios and persuade him not to give up on a match." - Sue Barker (BBC Tennis presenter and former world No.3
Where is Carlos Ramos name in these incidents? I thought he was the one in question for being sexist? I see Lahyani is named for his controversial mistake with Kyrgios and the umpire (Christian Rask) involved in the Cornet incident was also called out by Ms Barker but these are completely separate events that have no ties to the the incident in the women's final. Carlos Ramos was not involved in either of these matches so we cannot use these examples when discussing the integrity and dignity of Mr Ramos
Serena's reputation at the US Open in the past decade is scarred by other instances of her losing her cool:
In 2009, she suffered a self-inflicted wound when, at match point in a semifinal against Kim Clijsters, she lost her temper at a line judge, leading to a point penalty that resulted in her automatically losing the match. She was called on a second serve foot fault at a very crucial time in the match. The discussion was similar which focused on whether a foot fault should be called at such an important point in the match. YES IT SHOULD!! A foot fault is against the rules and had it been ignored this could have directly affected her opponents chance of winning the match, which would then be an even bigger mistake in how and when the rules are applied. If the foot fault wasn't called they may as well of let her serve from the service line.
The outburst allegedly included the following verbal abuse:
"I swear to God, I'm f--king going to take this f--king ball and shove it down your f--king throat, you hear that? I swear to God."
In 2011, in a final against Samantha Stosur, Serena lost a point for yelling, “Come on!” after hitting a forehand prior to the ball bouncing twice and could potentiality (although unlikely) have been retrieved by Stosur. Serena went on to berate the umpire, calling her “unattractive inside,” and was hit with another code violation
Considering the history of Serena's previous flareups and meltdowns, at this event, and the words that were allegedly used in her prior outbursts it is difficult for any unbiased spectator to agree that her comments towards Ramos should not be met with a code violation as this was not a one off lapse of character.
Finally I would like to share some comments from former athletes and officials and how they analyzed the incident and what they thought.
- Richard Ings (Former umpire who was also in charge of officials and rules on the ATP tour)
"Carlos was composed, effective, knowledgeable of the rules and applied them absolutely correctly in each of those three situations. He saw violations, he had the courage of his convictions to call them when he saw it and I support him 110%. It's one of the best officiating jobs I've seen in years."
- Billie Jean King (one of the founders of the WTA & former World No.1)
"Several things went very wrong during the US Open Women’s Finals today. Coaching on every point should be allowed in tennis. It isn’t, and as a result, a player was penalized for the actions of her coach. This should not happen."
Sorry Billie but you mention that coaching SHOULD be allowed but it ISN'T. Let's focus on the IT ISN'T part here and explain to me why Serena shouldn't have been penalized if coaching gestures were visible by the umpire? We can discuss making coaching legal in the future but as for now and on the day of the women's US Open 2018 final it was not and you have even quoted that yourself
My biggest disappointment in this whole affair is that 20 year old Naomi Osaka, who dreamed of reaching the US Open final and playing her childhood idol, Serena Williams, for her name on the trophy was put through the ringer on what was supposed to be her most special day. That dream began for Osaka on the morning of the women's final and by 5pm EST this dream quickly turned into a nightmare as she hid her face and her tears behind her visor for the majority of the prize giving ceremony.
The strength Naomi showed to maintain her focus after Serena's meltdown and finish the job she set out to do proved she is a true professional and has many more finals coming her way. Let's hope she can hold her head high on the podium after her next final with tears of joy in her eyes and to an eruption of applause in the arena, putting those grotesque and unnecessary "Boo's" out of her mind.
If you want to see all the footage of the event and also her previous two rants, please watch this short video with all the violations and verbal exchanges with the umpire and the referees.
Please share if you agree with these facts and comments and let's support our umpires as they are consistently putting themselves on the front line and delivering some exceptional refereeing in some of tennis' greatest matches.
Oly O'Shea
#teamramos #tennis #USOpen #Serenawilliams #Carlosramos #Naomiosaka #Sport #Grandslam #Newyork #WTA #Behaviour #Mental #Mentalstrength #Focus #Emotions
