Serena Williams was right about women’s treatment but wrong on Saturday | Kevin Mitchell


Serena Williams has a case when she suggests tennis can treat women poorly but there are countless examples of men being penalised for behaviour like hers in the US Open final

When Serena Williams threw away the US Open title she has won six times by calling the umpire “a liar” and “a thief”, she cited sexism as the root cause. No male player, she said, would be treated the way the umpire Carlos Ramos treated her.

Sadly, she did her cause no good at all. Williams, while understandably upset, was wrong. Ramos, doing no more than his job demanded, was right. Intentionally or not, she accused him of bias that simply was not there – in these circumstances, at least.

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