Recently, the greatest female tennis player of all time Serena Williams, lost in the final round of the U.S. Open after a controversial ruling by the official. During the final match, Williams was facing off against Naomi Osaka, when chair umpire Carlos Ramos issued a violation when he suspected Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou of cheating. Williams then made a claim to Ramos that she never cheated during the match.
After arguing with Ramos, Williams received three violations and was ultimately docked points which led to her loss. A few days after the match ended, Williams accused the umpire of sexism and pointed out the double standard in the sport.
“I just don’t understand…if you’re a female you should be able to do even half of what a guy can do,” Williams said in an interview following the match. After Williams went on a rant calling out Ramos, the tournament referee’s office issued a $17000 fine for three code violations. After Williams’ argument there were a few fans mad at the referee forfeiting a game giving Osaka the victory. One could even hear the crowd’s boos as Osaka was announced the winner of the Open. Although when everything was said and done, Williams still stood and gave Osaka congratulations on a well-played match and even comforted her during the crowd’s boos.
There was another instance where a male player by the name John McEnroe was charged with losing an entire match. He had a similar outburst, but the only difference was that while the Grand Slam chief of supervisors intervened, McEnroe was still yelling obscenities on live television.
The real problem doesn’t lie within the official ruling or the outcome of the match. The main problem is how black people, particularly black women, are portrayed in the media. Black women are usually portrayed as angry, bitter, rude and even vindictive. All Williams did was defend what she thought was right, and she was criticized for it. There was even a racist international cartoon that surfaced within the next day or two of the matches.
This is where the problem began as Williams was portrayed as some beastly sore loser which is unacceptable. The cartoon resembled 20th century depictions of African Americans and artist Mark Knight has come under a lot of fire for the drawings.
Shortly after the picture hit the internet, Knight’s twitter was deactivated as the backlash and criticism led to Knight and his family receiving death threats.
The main problem is how black people, particularly black women, are portrayed in the media.