My niece who played on the WTA Tour says that Serena was not abused

Meghann Shaughnessy was a professional tennis player for 19 years before retiring to raise a family six years ago. She was the 11th player in the world in 2001. She has played more than 1,200 professional matches, including three singles against Serena Williams (winning one, losing two) and seven against Venus Williams (2-5).

She was a team-mate of the Williams sisters in the American Federation Cup team, led by Billie Jean King in 2003. She has played many games under the chairmanship of veteran referee Carlos Ramos. She is also the daughter of my brother.

To date, Alan Dershowitz and Kendrick Lamar have published an article about the collapse of Serena Williams in the final defeat of her US Open against Naomi Osaka on Saturday. Serena's behavior was apologized to by many ("she was mistreated because she's a woman", "male players are doing what Serena did"). , and tell his story while diverting the attention of a valuable opponent.

I stayed away, reading, listening and keeping quiet. A member of my family said, "Do not interfere. This thing breaks down in two ways. The old whites see this one way and everyone sees it the other way. "

To inflate. But what about my niece? She is not an old white woman, she is not "everyone" either. She played against Serena. She was notified by Ramos during a match. She lost points for being coached during the matches, breaking her racket and screaming at the referee. She also has good things to say about her years on the tour with Serena.

"She was always great to me," Meghann said. "Serena has a sense of humor. I've always loved being around her. I think that she was just taken in the moment and did not respond well. She does not have the habit of losing. It does not happen often. "

Related: Referee Carlos Ramos speaks for the first time since the conflict

I asked Meghann if she had experienced a double sexist standard on the part of chair umpires during her tour years.

"I did not do it," she said. "I never had the impression of being more severe because I was a woman when I was playing.

"When she played this card – saying it was unfair and it was just because I am a woman that I am treated this way" – the problem is that I think she did not act at all. appropriate way.

"I think she's an amazing athlete with all kinds of attention on her and she needs to behave better. There is no question of it.

"I do not think this referee did anything wrong. He is an excellent referee. I have had it always existed and in my opinion it did nothing wrong.

"If you look at the three things that caused the warning, the penalty points and the game penalty, it did nothing wrong. It's just the three that are happening as a result.

"In the first, she received a warning because her coach was coaching and he even admitted it. And she was arguing, "I did not even hear it. You call me a cheater. I am not a cheater. All this is irrelevant. At the end of the day, it's illegal to practice tennis again.

"I hope that they will soon change the rule because, as stated by his coach after the game, all coaches train every game." It does not change the fact that it's illegal. He trained, so she got a warning. It's just right.

"Then she threw her racket and broke her racket. It's just right. At that point, in my opinion, she should have been more careful knowing that the third offense is a match penalty. And she just kept arguing with the referee and "you stole a point, you're a thief" and I think she probably did not think he had the courage to inflict a penalty.

"Later, his argument was," Well, the men said a lot worse. They did it, but on the first offense. But all this is a warning. If the training and the racket had not occurred, she would have had a warning for saying so. So it's not like she swears it, but since it was the US Open final, there were three fouls and a match penalty and that's a big deal.

"I had tons of racquet abuse. Tons of warnings. I had some points penalties. I have never docked a game. I did not take it that far. And that's one thing – she knows the rules and after the penalty point, she should have been silent. It was just pushing his luck.

"She was getting her ass back and she could not do it and it was as if she had chosen to take care of it. There has been so much talk about how to legalize coaching and it's not fair treatment for women and all that.

"If you erase all this and examine the facts. Coaching is illegal in tennis. Was he training? Yes. This calls for a warning. D & # 39; AGREEMENT. Breaking a racket, on a second offense? It's a point penalty. And verbally punishing a referee is also a penalty. And in this case, it's a third and it's a game. That's what happened.

"It's such a big story right now. At the awards ceremony, she was very sympathetic to Osaka. I think at that moment, she realized: "Gee, I really messed up here" and she was trying to make her a little better.

"Serena is a real champion. Many people are watching it and I think it was really a shame for Osaka. She's 20 years old and it was her first slam final and it was an amazing time for her. Instead, it was all about Serena and what happened. "

Dan Shaughnessy can be contacted at [email protected]