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Carlos Ramos and Serena Williams dominated the US Open. (Danielle Parhizkaran / USA Today)
Cindy Boren
Reporter covering the sport, with a focus on politics and national stories
Novak Djokovic, the Open Open men's US champion, asked some tricky questions when he was asked about the Serena Williams controversy that erupted on Saturday night, obscuring his 14th Grand Slam title.
Williams Tennis was fined $ 17,000 for breaking the cascading code after receiving a coaching warning, a penalty for breaking his racket and a penalty when the referee ruled his words abusive. This contributed to the loss of Naomi Osaka and overshadowed Osaka's performance and the post-match ceremony. Ugliness dominated the debate on Sunday and Djokovic gave a thoughtful answer when asked about the situation.
"Look, I love Serena, first of all," Djokovic told reporters Sunday after defeating Juan Martin del Potro, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. "I really felt for her [Saturday]. The hard thing for a chair umpire to deal with as well. We must empathize with him. Everyone was in a very difficult situation yesterday. Many emotions. Serena was crying. Naomi was crying. It was really very difficult.
[An umpire’s power play overshadows the power of Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka]
But referee Carlos Ramos made the task more difficult. Williams may have lost the match against Osaka, but winning a game at a critical point in Osaka's 6-2, 6-4 victory was a useless intrusion into the match. Many people have pointed out that male stars such as Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors, to name only two, have not been penalized for harsher comments than Serena asking for apologies and calling Ramos a thief.
Djokovic drew the line to Ramos' involvement. The last thing any athlete wants or any sport needs is for the referee to intervene on the outcome, especially when a championship is in play.
"I have my personal opinion that the chair umpire should not possibly push Serena to the limit, especially in a Grand Slam final," he said. "Maybe just changed – maybe not, but he changed the course of the match. It was, in my opinion, perhaps useless. We go through all our emotions, especially when you fight for a Grand Slam trophy.
[Serena Williams fined $17,000 for U.S. Open outburst; Billie Jean King calls out ‘double standard’]
"I think that, as Serena said yesterday at the closing ceremonies, Osaka deserves its time. As for Serena, she knows that I like her. She really inspires everyone. To always see her as dedicated and committed to the sport, it's really inspiring for me and for many tennis players, men and women from all over the world. "
Steve Simon, the head of the Women's Tennis Association, said in a statement On Sunday night, the incident "highlighted the question of whether different standards are applied to men and women in match arbitration".
Training is not allowed during men's matches, but it is allowed during the women's round, except at Grand Slam tournaments. Simon believes that coaching should be allowed through events and regardless of gender. "The ATA believes that there should be no difference in the tolerance standards provided to the emotions expressed by men and women and commits to working with sport to ensure that all players are treated the same way, "said Simon. "We do not believe this has been done."
[A defiant, defeated Serena Williams starts a long overdue conversation]
Ramos sparked a lot of criticism from the players and was involved in a controversial moment with Williams' sister, Venus, at the 2016 French Open. He accused her of communicating with her coach, who that many players do without penalty. Venus Williams challenged that, saying to Ramos (via Sky News), "I'm 36 years old. I'm just playing
During this tournament, Nick Kyrgios kicked out Ramos when he was called for a code violation for shouting at a baseball player. Andy Murray was the victim of a code violation by Ramos at the 2016 Olympics, accusing Murray of calling him a "stupid referee." Murray called him saying during a change: "I did not say" stupid arbitration ". But if you want to be the star of the show, that's fine. After an incident at the French Open 2017, Ramos punished Rafael Nadal for taking too much time between points and Nadal told him he would never again preside another match.
"Theoretically, the referees are there to analyze the match and they are not there to use the clock," said Nadal. "Otherwise, we should have a stopwatch on the field. Exactly."
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