By Gregor Hynds

This weekend Serena Williams brought to light an gender issue with global tennis after her US Open defeat to Naomi Osaka.

During the match on Saturday evening at Flushing Meadows, Mrs Williams argued with umpire, Carlos Ramos, after the official gave a game to Osaka saying Williams had committed her third code violation during the game.

This isn’t the first time Carlos Romas has crossed swords with the Williams’ sisters, having given a code violation against Venus Williams in the 2016 French Open.

The altercation began after Serena was given a violation for coaching and for abusing her racket, as she threw it against the ground, which is prohibited at Open events. Serena branded the umpire as a “liar” and a “thief” during the second set of the US Open final, when he awarded Osaka a game when she was leading 4-3.

WTA have come out today to defend Serena for her comments during and post match, claiming that both men and women should be treated equally by the officials and that the events of Sunday were not dealt with in the correct manner.

I her post-match interview Williams claimed she didn’t need the coaching, or to cheat tot win that officials treat women differently from their male counterparts. Williams also spoke on how men get away with worse language when they get into arguments by officials at tournaments.

It seems that this issue is far from over with many calling for rule changes, especially after Alize Cornet was fined for changing her top on courting the earlier stages of the Grand Slam event.  The US Open Officials released a statement after the incident and apologised for the penalty altogether, clarifying that their issue no issue with players changing attire on court.

Tennis Scotland declined to comment on any incident from the US Open.

Credit: ESPN