Serena Williams lost her match against Japanese-Haitian player Naomi Osaka, who’s win was overshadowed. Social media and news websites all went wild when Serena called sexism on the court. Sexism is “prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.” Serena states that umpire Carlos Ramos stole her game from her and that if she was a “man” he would have treated her differently.
She was fine 17,000 for her aggressive remarks on the field, she was first given a warning for getting help from her coach, then got points deducted for aggressive behavior, which then escalated to her game being thrown out. This is a very debatable topic and everyone is entitled to their opinions. However, one thing that you can’t argue with is history, and history has shown male tennis players getting away with this behavior. According to an article on CNN news, “male tennis players, such as James Blake, have admitted to saying worse than Williams did — without suffering penalties.” The question still lingers, did Serena received gender-bias on the field? .
On the other hand, some very famous names like Martina Navratilova and Mary Carillo had a lot to say about Serena’s behavior in the Washington Post. Navratilova said, “Romos would not have reacted the same way to an argumentative male player, Williams was missing the point and would have been better served to conduct herself with respect for the sport we love so dearly.” Martina is commenting on the behavior Serna showed and how she handled the situation. She also went against the accusation Serena said about Sexist on the court by saying ” I don’t believe it’s a good idea to apply a standard of ‘If men can get away with it, women should be able to, too” Navratilova is stating that two wrongs don’t make a right.
In response to these claims about gender-bias-on-the-field umpires are boycotting her games. They are a hundred percent on Romos’s side because he was said to have been treated unfairly by the United States Tennis Association. “Retired umpire Richard Ings confirmed to ESPN that umpires feel that Ramos is being vilified.” They feel he’s being falsely accused of these claims. They also refuse to coach her matches unless she apologizes. Serena herself also stated she needed an apology from Romos.
