Male tennis players were fined almost three times more than women for court violations over the past 20 years, The New York Times reported on Saturday.
Male players were fined 1,517 times compared to 535 of their female counterparts, according to data compiled by officials at Grand Slam tournaments for the period covering 1998 to 2018.
The figures obtained by the Times show that men received 649 fines for breaking rackets to 99 for women in Grand Slam matches over the last two decades.
Men were fined 344 times compared to 140 for audible obscenity and 287 to 67 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Serena Williams accused the chair umpire Carlos Ramos of being a ‘liar’ and a ‘thief’ that resulted in her being cited for verbal abuse during the US Open women’s final against Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
‘Because I’m a woman, you are going to take this away from me?’ she said to the tournament referee Brian Earley. ‘That is not right.’
In the post-match news conference, Williams claimed there is a double standard when it comes to punishment.
‘I have seen other men call other umpires several things. I am here fighting for women’s rights and women’s equality … and for me to say “thief” and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was sexist,’ she said.
‘He’s never taken a game from a man because they said “thief”. For me, it blows my mind.’
She also smashed her racket and threatened to make sure that the Portuguese umpire never worked another match of hers again in the second set of a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Osaka.
‘You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live,’ she said during the on-court outburst. ‘You are the liar. When are you going to give me my apology?’
A lot of people jumped to Williams’ defence, especially on social media, but there also were people who criticised her behaviour.
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Williams’ first code violation in the Osaka match was for coaching, which women have received 152 fines compared to 87 for men during the 20 years.
One factor in the disparity in the data is that men play five-set matches in Grand Slam events while women play best-of-three.
This was not the first time Williams has had a meltdown at the US Open. In 2009, Williams refused to apologise after threatening to shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat in an expletive-laden outburst.
Earlier this year at the Indian Wells tournament, Williams berated a female reporter in the players’ lounge area for asking a question at a news conference about therapeutic use exemptions.
One Australian commentator took issue with Williams’ claim that she is fighting for women’s rights.
‘She is doing a terrible disservice to women’s rights, to the #metoo movement, to gender equality,’ Caroline Wilson of the Australian Broadcasting Corp said. ‘To say she’s fighting for women’s rights, when what she is, is a bad sport.’
Photo: AFP
