CAPETOWN: Czech Republic tennis player Barbora Strycova has struck down Serena Williams' 'sexism' charge against Umpire Carlos Ramos during her US Open final match against Naomi Osaka of Japan.
"This is a bulls**t, for umpires being women or men doesn't matter. In comparison, I never saw (Rafael) Nadal shouting like that with an umpire," Sport24 quoted Strycova, as saying.
"I find it interesting that she did it only when she was losing," she added.
The world number twenty-five further expressed shock over the support extended by Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and United States Tennis Association (USTA) to the twenty-three time Grand Slam champion.
"Me, as a woman, take a lot of warnings. WTA defence surprised me. Will the rules change in Serena's matches?" she said.
"Ramos is tough, one of the best umpires in the world. He did what he had to do in that match, because she overcame the limit. Did he have to behave differently only because she was Serena Williams?" she questioned.
Williams had lost her cool during the US Open final after chair umpire Ramos handed over three code violations against the American for allegedly receiving on-court coaching from her coach Patrick Mouratoglou. She smashed her racket, and lashed out at the umpire calling him a 'liar' and a 'thief'.
Williams was later fined a total of $17,000 for three code violations during the match.