On Saturday evening a 36 year old mother and a 20 year old lady walked on a court to play a game. It just so happened there were around 23,000 people there to witness this game and countless millions watching on various devices around the world.
On this occasion, it was the younger lady who managed to win this game of tennis. In the first set of this match she managed to win 31 points to the opponents 21. In the second set they both won 29 points. Unfortunately, the talking point was not the fantastic play of the 20 year old. It was the fact the umpire judged it appropriate to hand 5 points to the 20 year old. I have thought a lot about this over the last 48 hours so have decided to offer my take on the proceedings.
The three main talking points are:
Carlos Ramos umpiring skills
Serena Williams behaviour
Sexism
So let’s start with the umpire. He is, without doubt, one of the most respected and experienced umpires in tennis. His reputation is he is firm but fair. He is a stickler for the rules and has a history of enforcing them.
At 1-0 up 15-40 down he witnessed, Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, clearly instructing Serena to try and move up the court more. This is coaching and against the rules so Carlos awarded a warning for coaching. The debates, from the experts, seems to revolve around the idea the umpire could have given a ‘soft warning’ and spoken with Serena warned her if it continued he would have to give her an official code violation for coaching. The fact is, as the umpire, it is at his discretion and he chose to give the immediate code for coaching.
Let’s move move on to Serena’s behaviour.
When she received the code, she marched up to the umpires chair and said, amongst other things ‘I don’t cheat, I’d rather lose than cheat’. At this moment, in the commentary booth, Jim Courier said “just when you think you couldn’t admire someone any more, she says that”. I thought this was a brilliant thing to say in such an emotive moment.
At 2-1 up in the second set, Serena and Carlos have another exchange and it is clear Serena’s main objective is to make sure the umpire knows she is not a cheater. At which point he puts his hand on his heart and says “I know that”. To which she replies “thank you so much”.
Serena breaks in the next game and seems to have the fire in her belly.
At 3-1 30-15, she inexplicably serves back to back double faults then plays an unforced error to hand the break back. In disgust, she throws her racket to the ground and smashes it. This is an easy code violation for the umpire and he orders it and awards a point penalty to Naomi. What is interesting is, Serena genuinely didn’t seem to know she was 15-0 down going into the next game. Things heat up pretty quickly.
Serena marched to the chair again and demanded an apology from the umpire. At the heart of her dialogue was the feeling she had been called a cheater. If we apply logic to this, she hadn’t been accused of anything. Her coach had visibly coached her but, as the player, she receives the warning. Serena brings the fact she is a mother into the equation and she has clearly switched her focus off of the match.
At 4-3 down she tells Carlos he has attacked her character, consistently demands an apology and then calls him a liar. Again, let’s apply logic here, what has he lied about? She then demands he says sorry. During the majority of this exchange the umpire continues to have his hand on his heart. When he is called a liar his demeanour changes and you can see him becoming more introspective. At the end of this exchange Serena states he is a thief as he has stolen a point from her. It was at this moment Carlos decides to apply another coach for verbal abuse resulting in a game penalty.
Official rule is “verbal abuse is defined as a statement about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or other person that implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise abusive.”
It is clear the umpire was well within his rights to issue this penalty as he has been called a liar and a thief. The debate seems to revolve around the fact Serena did not swear. Panelists seemed to be defending her by saying she did not drop any ‘f-bombs’. Swearing is an audible obscenity offence. In this case it was the context of the word and not bad language which resulted in the code.
Serena then called the tournament referee and supervisor on. It was at this point she broached the sexism topic. This is where my opinions may slightly differ from many. My initial reaction on hearing these words was that Serena was clutching and she had become desperate to shift blame and responsibility. However the more I think about this, I think she has a point. Would Carlos handled this affair exactly the same if it has been Roger vs Rafa? I am not so sure.
Is Carlos Ramos sexist? I don’t believe he is consciously sexist but as with most beliefs, they are deep rooted. If we flip the situation and imagine this was a male player speaking to a female umpire, would the world defend the male player or throw him to the lions? Is that sexist?
Sexism is such an emotive topic and not one I believe is going to be solved overnight, and definitely not in this blog. However, I do believe sexism exists in most walks of life, and the vast majority of the time, it is extremely deeply rooted in the sub-conscious. I also believe it works both ways, from men to women and from women to men. The difference is, because of the history of imbalance, the most effective way for a women to address the topic is a conscious way. Ie say what they are thinking.
Women are being encouraged, correctly, to speak up on the topic and this has its pros and cons. The advantage is that things will, quite rightly change, much quicker than if left to their own devices. The disadvantage is, until equality becomes normal behaviour, we will have a period of extreme discomfort and arguments about the subject. It is too easy for a man to say ‘she’s just playing the sexism card’ and, I believe the reason is, women have to play it if change is going to happen.
At the end of the match, Serena showed her humility by embracing Naomi at the net, in putting an arm around the shoulder of Naomi during the boos of the presentation ceremony and again, in verbally requesting the boos stop when she had the microphone.
So, in summary, did Carlos Ramos umpire this match well? I believe he did.
Did Serena behave badly? In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think she did. Demanding an apology was slightly uncomfortable to watch. I don’t prescribe to the idea of her setting a bad example to children. When I watched the re-run again this morning my daughter asked me what she was doing. I replied ‘she is just fighting for what she believes in’. My daughter didn’t even bat an eyelid and dipped back into her rice krispies. When it comes to setting an example to children, it is the parents that have the responsibility to do this, not sports stars.
Is Carlos Ramos sexist? I don’t believe he umpired that match in a consciously sexist way. Was Serena right to play the sexist card? On reflection, I think she was as I am not convinced it would have happened in the mens final if the circumstance had been exactly the same. I do not believe Carlos Ramos is sexist but I do have questions about how deep-rooted sexism goes across the board.
Sexism does exist but it is getting better very quickly because women are, quite rightly, being encouraged to speak out when they feel aggrieved. This infuriates some men but unfortunately it is the most effective way for change to be accelerated and men are going to have to suck it up until things change.
I genuinely believe in years to come, children will not believe that sexism was such a big deal in the year 2018. I would love it if Olympia grows up to believe this and know her mum had something to do with it.
Serena Williams is not guilty of behaving badly. She is guilty of showing that she is not super-human, she is human after all.
Stan Golub says
Kris
Thanks for writing this very thoughtful piece. Better than most of the articles/opinions that have been expressed, you capture the complexity of the incident. I’m still pondering it all, and appreciate your insights. Stan G.
Kris Soutar says
Hey Stan, I hope all is great with you. It has been a tough one to discuss as most are making large fleeting statements. I believe there is so much complexity to it, as you have mentioned and it is difficult to discuss well when people are talking (typing) with so much emotion. There is a slight irony in that. People are sparking off on it and that is sat behind a computer or a phone. Imagine how sparky emotions must be playing in front of 23,000 rowdy people in a grand slam final. Maybe if more people empathised even with that they may have a little more understanding 🙂
JC says
Carlos Ramos this year has given Nadal a penalty for delay of game, and Djokovic for tossing / bouncing his racket into the Wimbledon grass. He is clear that he does not tolerate code infractions.
Serena was clearly upset and frustrated. Usually I see tennis players verbally abuse their own box and coach (which is not a penalty) as long as it does not have a . However, in this case she seemed to have redirected her anger toward Ramos repeatedly after she had gotten the point penalty.
If she had vented her frustration but then moved on, I doubt the situation would have escalated. In my opinion, she turned a losing match into a controversy deliberately, and thought she could get away with swaying the fans plus insult the umpire with impunity that night and it backfired badly.
The fact that she demanded for an apology (expressing remorse for enforcing a tennis rule) that Ramos, that as an umpire would not / could not provide as an impartial official, only spiraled her deeper into a destructive hole she never recovered from.
History of similar behavior at the US Open by Serena
It is worth pointing out that Serena also lashed out (unfairly in my opinion) in 2011 against a female umpire: https://youtu.be/nO4aOTCKpJE?t=77
In 2009 in the Final, she lost match point because she threatened a linesperson. That ruined Kim Clijsters’ victory as well.
It is one thing to be fiercely competitive but taking it out on someone doing their job and making it a “personal attack” just ruins the game, her reputation and the US Open (for the fans, player winning and the official getting attacked).
If Serena is a role model for her daughter and the younger generation of American tennis players, you wouldn’t want your own son/daughter or any other boys and girls acting and reacting the way she did at your own tennis court.
Kris Soutar says
I completely understand where you are coming from. This article was to bring a slightly different perspective to the situation. I do not agree with how Serena reacted and behaved but I do think it has been blown out of proportion. Her demanding an apology was cringeworthy. Her calling the umpire a liar was bizarre as he hadn’t lied about anything and, personally, I think calling him a thief was the least offensive thing she said. It is ironic that sparked the game penalty as it would have been the liar comment I would have reacted to.
In terms of role model, I do not believe people should set out to be role models. They either are or are they are not due to their default behaviour. Serena is an incredible role model in some senses, and in others, not the best. However, she is an incredible example of someone who stands up and fights against what she believes. She is a product of her environment and where she comes from you fight for what you believe. Not excusing her behaviour but explaining it in some small way.
BTW, in 2009 it was the semi final versus Clijsters. She played Zvonareva in the final.
Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. I appreciate it
Kris
John Claffey says
Kris,
You state that “Serena Williams is not guilty of behaving badly” and on reflection you think “she was right to play the sexist card”. Do you seriously believe that?
In my opinion Serena’s outbursts had nothing to do with sexism and throwing in a reference to the men’s game was a red herring.. She carried on obnoxiously and she was definitely clutching at straws in trying to shift the blame on to the umpire. The fact is that she was being beaten by the wonderful performance of her opponent and she could not accept that she would would not be winning her 24th slam title and her emotions got the better of her.
Kris, keep these blogs coming and we look forward to meeting you in Dublin again soon.
Kris Soutar says
Hi John, great to hear from you. This blog has caused a bit of a stir as a lot of people have not really got the gist of what I am saying. On reflection, I believe I could have done a better job of writing it but I have a rule of writing my blogs in under 15 minutes.
I wish I had been more firm with my opinion that Serena’s actions and behaviour were unacceptable. What I meant here was, I believe they have been massively blown out of proportion. As I said, the demanding an apology was totally cringe and irrational but, at the end of the day, all she did was speak in a patronising way to an umpire. When you compare to the treatment some referees and umpires receive in other sports, it wasn’t that big a deal. However, she was wrong.
My opinion on the sexism part has also been misunderstood. Essentially, I do not believe Carlos was being sexist but I do, 100% believe that Serena felt that way. I also believe, if she genuinely felt that way she has every right to express it. Out of crisis will come change and, even if this wasn’t the case, I do believe it will lead to more scrutiny on the consistency of umpiring.
I really am convinced, if the literal exact thing happened in a mens final of a slam with a male icon, they would not have received the same clinical treatment.
In terms of Serena using this tactic because she was being outplayed, there is no doubt the first set was one sided. However, even with the 5 point penalty, the second set was 29-29 in points. Serena was 100% in this set and if anything, she put herself to the sword.
There is no doubt Serena’s behaviour winds certain people up but she is a product of her environment, and when she feels attacked, she attacks back. I am not excusing it but I do understand it.
I also think we have the benefit of speaking about this with no adrenalin coursing our veins. Think how it must feel to be fighting for a title in front of 23,000 people. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to keep a level head.
Anyway, it is all history now and I hope some good comes from it.
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you in Dublin again very soon.
Take care