Serena Williams’ claims of sexism in the US Open final have been backed by the governing body of women’s tennis.
WTA chief executive Steve Simon said the umpire showed Williams a different level of tolerance of Saturday’s outbursts than if she had been a man.
She got a code violation for coaching, a penalty point for racquet abuse and a game penalty for calling the umpire a “thief” in the loss to Naomi Osaka.
The American said it was “sexist” to have been penalised a game.
“The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men vs. women,” Simon said in a statement.
“We do not believe that this was done last night.”
The head of the United States Tennis Association, which organises the US Open, said men “are badgering the umpire on the changeovers and nothing happens”.
“We watch the guys do this all the time,” USTA chief Katrina Adams said.
“There’s no equality when it comes to what the men are doing to the chair umpires and what the women are doing, and I think there has to be some consistency across the board.
“I’m all about gender equality and I think when you look at that situation these are conversations that will be imposed in the next weeks. We have to treat each other fairly and the same.”
Those views were shared by BBC tennis presenter Sue Barker, who said: “I’ve sat courtside watching the men ranting at umpires and they haven’t been given a violation.”
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Umpire should not have pushed Williams to the limit – Djokovic
Novak Djokovic was asked about Williams’ outbursts after he won a third men’s US Open title on Sunday by beating Juan Martin del Potro.
He said the interventions by umpire Carlos Ramos were “unnecessary” and said they “changed the course of the match”.
“I have my personal opinion that maybe the chair umpire should not have pushed Serena to the limit, especially in a Grand Slam final,” the Serb said.
But Djokovic said he did not see things in the same way as WTA chief Simon, adding: “I don’t understand from where he’s coming with that statement.”
The 14-time Grand Slam champion also described the situation as “tough” for the umpire and said “we have to empathise with him”.
Williams was given a code violation in the final after Ramos ruled that her coach Patrick Mouratoglou was signalling tactics from the stands.
After the match, Mouratoglou admitted he had been coaching, but added “I don’t think she looked at me” and “everybody does it”.
“The umpire can choose to exercise it or not,” she said in a live video on her Instagram page. “We either have a rule for all times or we don’t. That is my problem with it.
“Why is there so much difference? I don’t get that. There has to be a clear rule to it. If it happened in the men’s match, it would not happen again. That is the problem. It is the inconsistency.”
