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Serena Williams returned to the U.S. Open for the first time since giving birth to her 10-month-old daughter, Alexis Ohanian, Jr., and her cup runneth over with support from everybody — except the Grand Slam chair umpire.
Williams and 47-year-old Carlos Ramos engaged in a heated exchange during the U.S. Open Grand Slam on Saturday (Sept. 8) after the umpire sanctioned her for cheating. The cheating he’s referring to is a hand signal he witnessed Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, give to the tennis star during the match.
Serena addressed Ramos’ accusations by telling him, “I’d rather lose than to cheat.”
Mouratoglou admits to signaling Williams, but she says she never saw it — and there’s video to prove it. However, Ramos baited Serena by calling her a “liar.”
Their encounter went on for some time, and Serena called called the umpire a “thief.” But that only left the tennis champ in tears.
Ramos cited Williams with another violation, this one for “verbal abuse.”
She pleaded to tennis officials after the match, saying, “You know my character. This is not right. This is not fair.”
According to Anecdote, “Williams received three violations after her encounter with the umpire, which are costing her $17,000 in fines. She received a $10,000 fine for verbal abuse — the US Open’s largest fine to date — $4,000 for the coaching violation, and $3,000 for racket abuse. (She slammed her racket on the court in a clear fit of fury.)”