NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 08: Serena Williams of the United States reacts after her defeat in the Women’s Singles finals match to Naomi Osaka of Japan on Day Thirteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
In today’s sexism and misogynoir news, tennis umpires are reportedly considering boycotting the greatest tennis player ever, also known as Serena Williams. The possible umpire boycott comes on the heels of Williams losing the U.S. Open to Naomi Osaka, and being being fined $17,000 for a verbal “altercation” with umpire Carlos Ramos.
According to the the Times of London, some umpires are ready to boycott Williams’ matches, and in an interview with ESPN, retired umpire Richard Ings says that some umpires also feel that Ramos is being vilified.
“The umpiring fraternity is thoroughly disturbed at being abandoned by the WTA,” Ings said on Tuesday. “They are all fearful that they could be the next Ramos. They feel that no one has their back when they have to make unpopular calls.”
Apparently none of these umpires are black women, and actually know how it feels to be vilified, or have racist cartoons drawn of them. Maybe they should ask Williams? What’s even more interesting is that there have been plenty of occasions where male tennis players have had outbursts, thrown their rackets and cursed at umpires, but that was just chalked up to “boys being boys”.
Thankfully there are those people like Women’s Tennis Association CEO Steve Simon who thinks “there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men vs. women.”
If boycotting feels like the right thing for them to do, oh well…I’m quite sure they’re the ones losing money, not Williams.