After Serena Williams tirade, tennis umps consider boycotting her matches

If she won, it would be her first Grand Slam since giving birth to her daughter a year ago, and it was a powerful moment of solidarity for women who have had to fight to bounce back into their careers after becoming mothers.

Osaka’s win came as Williams was given a game penalty and multiple code violations by chair umpire Carlos Ramos. “I really felt for her yesterday”, Djokovic said after his win over Juan Martin del Potro. I couldn’t tell what was going on, because it was just so loud in there. She and others like her say Williams’ experience resonates with them because they are often forced to watch their tone and words in the workplace in ways that men and other women are not. His excuse? Everyone does it.

In a raw moment, the 23-time Grand Slam singles victor reached over to comfort her young opponent and whisper something in her ear.

Williams picks up her broken racket.

The U.S. team includes Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Mike Bryan and rookie Frances Tiafoe.

“I felt really happy because I sort of felt that she knew I was crying … You’re a hater and you’re just unattractive inside”.

Most times racket breaking ends in a code violation and a fine. Second thing, coaching violation.

“After 15 years of false starts, and people in fashion telling me ‘no, ‘ it only only drove me to work harder”. Watching what was going on, I knew Serena was getting a little overboard with her attack, but I never thought Ramos would actually take it that far. You have to demand the good behaviour of the players on the court.

The 47-year-old Portuguese handed out three code violations to runner-up Williams on Saturday, prompting a heated on-court argument with the 23-times Grand Slam champion and sparking a debate about sexism in tennis.

Williams went on to lose the match 2-6, 4-6, and continued to stew on court during the prize ceremony to heckles from the crowd.

But as we see in Super Bowls and NBA Finals, and in the biggest sporting moments the umpires/referees wisely take a step back and let the players determine the outcome. King wrote that if a male player had a similar outburst, he’d be called “outspoken” and have no repercussions. “It was about her integrity, and anybody who doesn’t get that is perpetuating the erasure that so many black women feel when they are trying to speak up for themselves”.

Harry Potter author J K Rowling has joined several celebrities in criticising an Australian cartoonist for his “racist and sexist” caricature of tennis superstar Serena Williams at the US Open.

The crowd watching Serena Williams during her semi-final was largely African-American, something I have seen change – as a longtime observer and writer of the sport – exponentially.

International Tennis Federation spokeswoman Heather Bowles confirmed to the AP on Tuesday that Carlos Ramos was chosen to work at the best-of-five series between the countries that begins Friday and concludes Sunday in Zadar, Croatia.