Serena Williams grabbed headlines for her on-court behaviour during the finals of US Open 2018 while playing against the 20-year-old Japanese Naomi Osaka. She busted out at referee Carlos Ramos, who issued three penalties on the American tennis player. One was for getting coached from her box, the second was smashing her racquet and the third was for verbally abusing the Ramos for the judgement of the third umpire. Williams went on to call Ramos a thief and liar and her behaviour created a divided opinion on her behaviour. She was even slapped a fine of $17,000 by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for her outburst and even lost the match by 6-2, 6-4.

Carlos Ramos now opened up about the controversy and said, “I'm fine, given the circumstances. It's a delicate situation, but 'à la carte' arbitration does not exist. Do not worry about me.” Now, as per a report in the various newspapers, the umpires are now mulling over banning Serena Williams after the fiasco. US Open Officials to Serena Williams, ‘The Chair Umpire’s Decision Was Final

As per The Guardian, the umpires are mulling over to form a union after Ramos, was “hung out to dry” by the authorities. They are also quite agitated with the fact, that the International Tennis Federation (ITF) took 48 hours to come to Ramos’ support. As per another report, the officials could also refuse to officiate the matches until Williams apologises for her behaviour.

Andy Roddick came out in support of Williams by posting a series of tweets on Twitter. He even criticised the umpiring standards of the tournament. Chief Executive Steve Simon of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) also backed Williams and said, “Yesterday brought to the forefront the question of whether different standards are applied to men and women in the officiating of matches.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 12, 2018 01:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).