Serena Williams gained support from the Women's Tennis Association and the U.S. Tennis Association on Monday following her heated argument with a chair umpire at the U.S. Open.
Both high profile organizations backed Williams' accusations of sexism against Carlos Ramos, whom she had a heated argument with after he handed her a series of code violations during her U.S. Open final loss to Naomi Osaka, Fox News reported.
Ramos first issued Williams a code violation warning for coaching after he reportedly saw her coach give hand signals from the stands, which resulted in a $10,000 penalty fee.
In her frustration, Williams smashed her racket, earning her a point penalty and a further $3,000 penalty fee.
When she retaliated by confronting him, Ramos gave her a game penalty for verbal abuse, which cost her $4,000.
At a news conference following the game, Williams accused Ramos of sexism.
"I'm here fighting for women's rights and for women's equality and for all kinds of stuff," she said, according to CNN. "He's never taken a game from a man."
WTA CEO Steve Simon released a statement Monday backing Williams.
"Yesterday brought to the forefront the question of whether different standards are applied to men and women in the officiating of matches," the statement read. "The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men [vs.] women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same. We do not believe that this was done."
USTA president, Katrina Adams, also announced her support of Williams in an interview with ESPN.
She said there was "no equality" with how umpires treated men and women.
"I think there has to be some consistency across the board. These are conversations that will be imposed in the next weeks," Adams said, according to Fox News.
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