Serena Williams Breaks Her Silence On U.S. Open Controversy
SYDNEY, Australia ― Serena Williams is standing by her assertion that she did not receive coaching during her U.S. Open tennis final against Naomi Osaka, an accusation leveled at her by umpire Carlos Ramos.
In an interview with Australia’s “The Project,” the tennis pro responded to the controversy, and addressed a recent admission from coach Patrick Mouratoglou that he was coaching.
“He [Mouratoglou] said he made a motion, I don’t understand what he was talking about,” Williams says in a clip of the interview, which airs in its entirety next week. “We’ve never had signals.”
Back from US & I can finally reveal I was there to interview Serena Williams, her first since US Open. More tonight on Sunday @theprojecttv
— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) September 16, 2018
Williams received several violations during her match with Osaka. In the first, she was accused of receiving coaching.
A second violation was issued after Williams broke her tennis racket in frustration, which led to a point penalty. Ramos issued a third violation, which included a game penalty, after Williams confronted him and called him a “thief.”
Osaka went on to defeat Williams, becoming the first Grand Slam tournament champion from Japan.
"I don't cheat to win. I'd rather lose." — Serena Williams just now to the chair umpire #USOpen18 pic.twitter.com/TCbGcpVmeq
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 8, 2018
Williams was fined $17,000 for the three code violations, the Associated Press reported. This included $10,000 for “verbal abuse” toward Ramos, $4,000 for the coaching warning and $3,000 for breaking her racket.
Serena Williams after getting penalized because she called judge a "thief" "There;s a a lot of men who have said things and because they are men nothing happens to them"....pic.twitter.com/Vr9WTspqFw
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 8, 2018
The 23-time Grand Slam champion sparked a heated debate after the women’s final when she called Ramos’ decision to dock her as sexist, noting that male players who act in a similar way on the court are not always penalized as harshly.
“I just don’t understand,” Williams told “The Project.” “If you’re female you should be able to do even half of what a guy can do.”
Williams sits on the board of advisers to Oath, HuffPost’s parent company.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.