New York [USA], Sep 10 (NT): Serena Williams on Sunday was fined a total of $17,000 for three code violations during the final match of the US Open 2018 against Japan's Naomi Osaka.
The 36-years-old superstar launched an outburst against chair umpire Carlos Ramos after the latter issued a warning to her for getting coaching instructions from the stands in the second set.
Williams lost her calm and out loud abused the umpire, calling him a 'liar' and a 'thief'.
The American tennis star was tied up $10,000 for 'verbal abuse' of the chair umpire, $4000 for being warned for coaching from the stands, and $3,000 for crushing and breaking her racket from her $1.85 million prize money that she was awarded after finishing as the runner-up against Japan’s Osaka.
However, Serena gained support from across the tennis world including tennis icon Billie Jean King.
"When a woman is emotional, she's "hysterical" and she's penalized for it. When a man does the same, he's "outspoken" & and there are no repercussions. Thank you, @serenawilliams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same." King wrote on micro blogging website Twitter.
Former world number one American star Andy Roddick also took his official Twitter handle in support of 23-time Grand Slam champion and said, "Worst refereeing I've ever seen ...... the worst !!!". While former women's world no.1 Belarus' Victoria Azarenka said, "If it was men's match, this wouldn't happen like this. It just wouldn't".
On the other hand, Naomi Osaka has become the first ever tennis player from Japan to hold a grand slam title as she beat Williams 6-2, 6-4 in the summit face-off at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. (NT)