Serena bullied by Ramos, but she’s no innocent victim

Serena Williams and Carlos Ramos paired up on Saturday evening to give tennis its most publicity since the 2008 Wimbledon final. And that would be fantastic news–if Serena had been PLAYING Ramos. But when everyone is talking about a tennis match and the two central characters are a player and the chair umpire? You know something went badly, BADLY wrong.

The details aren’t particularly complicated. Ramos followed the letter of the tennis law.

1. Serena’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, got caught coaching her from the stands during the second set (and admitted it later). Coaching during a Grand Slam match is not permitted. Since the coach can’t really be punished, the player absorbs the penalty in the form of a violation (basically, a warning). And, yes. It’s a stupid rule and a stupid punishment. What it isn’t is a surprise. Everyone knows you’re not supposed to do it.
2. Serena was getting soundly out-played, and at 2-2 in the second set she was broken by opponent Naomi Osaka. In response, she smashed her racket to the court and broke it, an automatic racket abuse violation (her second). Two violations equal a point penalty.
3. Serena complained to Ramos throughout the changeover about the coaching violation, which she interpreted as Ramos calling her a cheater. In reality, Ramos was calling Mouratoglou a cheater, but it was already in Serena’s head that he was attacking her character.
4. Serena was broken for a second time by Osaka at 3-3, which made her mad again. She approached Ramos and called him “a thief” for the original coaching call. Ramos didn’t appreciate being called a thief and gave Serena a third violation for verbal abuse, an automatic game penalty.

Ramos didn’t break any rules. It’s important to acknowledge that fact, because in the past 24 hours he has gone from being a fairly well-respected chair umpire to absorbing rather widespread accusations of blatant male chauvinism. We at least need to stipulate that he was following official protocols.

I don’t know if Carlos Ramos is sexist. I’m not prepared to say that he isn’t–he reacted quite…er….strongly to having Serena up in his grill, but I don’t think one instance of getting highly annoyed at a female player questioning his integrity automatically equates to sexism. What I AM prepared to say is that he was a bully. The coaching call was straight up punitive. Yeah, it’s against the rules for the coach to do that, but owing to the stupidity of having a coach present who isn’t allowed to coach, most chair umpires ignore it. Ramos didn’t. That’s his right, of course, but the final of a Grand Slam seems like an odd time to crack down.

The racket smash was all Serena. Ramos had no part in that, and that’s a violation in which the umpire has no discretion. You break your frame, you get a penalty. Every time. And two violations equal a point penalty. Every time.

Where this gets ugly is with the third violation. Ramos knew she was mad, and EVERYONE knew she was getting outplayed. Defeat loomed large on the horizon. The decent thing to do would have been to issue a verbal warning. Something like, “You’re treading on dangerous ground. If you get a third violation, it’s a game penalty. Let’s continue, please.” I don’t know if it would have diffused the situation, but it WOULD have shown a desire by Ramos to preserve the integrity of the final and would have given him absolution. As we all know, that isn’t what he chose to do.

Serena annoyed him, so he used his position of authority and the rules themselves to punish her, and in so doing, completely derailed the match. She was doing a fine job of hanging herself, and he rather gleefully nudged the last couple of inches of rope in her direction. Was he required to issue a verbal warning? Of course not (obviously). But it was the right thing to do. Instead he chose to be spiteful–and isn’t that how bullies operate?

The only party NOT complicit in the crap show that was the final was Naomi Osaka. And let it be said right here: she was MAGNIFICENT throughout the tournament. Clearly the best player of the fortnight. That she was robbed of fully enjoying her moment is on Serena and Ramos.

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