Serena Williams has been fined following her US Open controversy.
The tennis star will have to pay $17,000 for three code violations made during the tournament, one of which resulted in a tense face-off with the chair umpire who she told she’d ‘rather lose’ than cheat.`
The referee’s office fined Williams $10,000 for ‘verbal abuse’ against chair umpire Carlos Ramos, $4,000 for being warned for coaching and a further $3,000 for breaking her racket.
The money will only slightly dent her runner-up prize money of $1.85 million.
She had clashed with Ramos after she was issued a code violation warning in the second set’s second game for receiving coaching.
Williams opposed the call saying she would never cheat. Following the match, Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou told ESPN he had tried to signal Williams but said he didn’t think she had seen him and added that he believes every player gets coaching during matches, the Independent reports.
Williams said:
I have never cheated in my life! You owe me an apology.
You stole a point from me. You’re a thief, too.
Ramos responded by issuing a third code violation, which results in a lost game. He immediately called both players over to explain his ruling. Laughing, Williams said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ before asking to tournament referee Brian Earley who walked onto the court with a Grand Slam supervisor.
Williams said the whole incident ‘is not fair’ and that ‘this has happened to me too many times.
‘To lose a game for saying that is not fair,’ she added. ‘There’s a lot of men out here that have said a lot of things and because they are men that doesn’t happen.’
Japan’s Naomi Osaka went on to win the US Open to become the first Grand Slam champion from the country, beating Williams 6-2, 6-4.
Only recently the 23-time Grand Slam winner was banned by French Open officials from sporting her standard black catsuit. Williams shunned the move and responded by donning a black tutu during her first-round victory over Carina Witthoft at the US Open on Monday.
Williams had been wearing the catsuit after she suffered life-threatening blood clots last year following the birth of her daughter Olympia.
She said at the time:
I feel like if and when they know that some things are for health reasons, then there’s no way that they wouldn’t be OK with it. So I think it’s fine.
When it comes to fashion, you don’t want to be repeat offender.
Not sure I agree with the fines. At the end of the day, though, it’s nothing compared to what she’s getting out of the tournament.
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