A 20-year-old Japanese player named Naomi Osaka won her first Grand Slam title on Saturday night when she beat Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the US Open.
That she is the first female Grand Slam champion from Japan or that she’s US Open history’s second-youngest female winner isn't what’s occupied the headlines in the two days since her win.
What everyone is talking about is her opponent’s on-court showdown with the umpire and the questions that Serena Williams raised about sexism in tennis. Williams, who failed to clinch her seventh US Open title and 24th Grand Slam, directly accused the chair umpire, Portuguese Carlos Ramos, of being a thief after he docked her a point for a code violation. Ramos in fact called out three violations against Williams in the second set: the first being a warning about receiving coaching, the second a penalty point for racket destruction and the third another penalty for verbal abuse for calling him a "thief."
"I've seen other men call other umpires several things. I'm here fighting for women's rights and for women's equality and for all kinds of stuff. For me to say 'thief' and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He's never taken a game from a man because they said 'thief,'" said Williams at the press conference.
While players –– male and female, past and present –– have spoken out in support of Serena, the facts do favor Ramos. He stuck to the rules with each of his reprimands, leaving just the one contentious point –– was the use of the word ‘thief’ so extreme that he needed to hand Serena a code violation?
With the International Tennis Federation (ITF) also releasing a statement in support of Ramos and, Serena, on the other hand, being handed a $17,000 fine by the tournament’s organising committee, the verdict is still out on who was correct in their stand.
But, is it not possible that both were right? That Serena did what she needed to, to stand up for herself and Ramos did what was correct under the immense pressure he was being put under by one of the sport’s greatest ever?
Watch as members of The Quint put forward their viewpoints.
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