N.Y. TIMES
Serena Williams argued that she was subject to a "double standard" when she was cited for verbal abuse by chair umpire Carlos Ramos during the US Open women's final, according to Christopher Clarey of the N.Y. TIMES. But according to data compiled by officials at grand slam tournaments for the past 20 years, "men are penalized more often for verbal abuse." Those figures show that from '98-18 at the four grand slam events, men have been fined for misbehavior "with much more frequency than women," with one "significant" exception: coaching violations. Men have been fined 646 times for racket abuse and 287 times for unsportsmanlike conduct. Women have been fined 99 times for racket abuse and 67 times for unsportsmanlike conduct during that span. Williams was penalized for verbal abuse after calling Ramos a "thief" and "liar" in the second set of her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Naomi Osaka. The grand slam rule book defines verbal abuse as a statement about an official that "implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise abusive." Though Williams did not use an obscenity, she did accuse Ramos of dishonesty, which triggered the code-of-conduct violation and, later, a $10,000 fine for that offense. Some of the disparity between the men's and women's fines "can be explained by the fact that men play more tennis" at grand slam tournaments. There are also "simply more men" at grand slam tournaments because, in the qualifying events, there are 128 spots in singles for men at the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon, and "only 96 for women." But even accounting for those factors, men "appear to be fined proportionally more often than women for a variety of offenses" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/14).
