The Undefeated columnist Clinton Yates put it: "If you've been in scenarios in which, as a black person in America, you feel your identity is being confronted and taken from you ... there is a flight-or-fight reaction that forces you to behave in a way that sometimes people don't recognize as reasonable."
"She felt humiliated because she felt like he was saying that she was cheating," said Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams' coach. "And it's the worst thing you can say to Serena. She prefers to lose 100 times than people to think that she's cheating."
3
During a commercial break after the racquet-smash point penalty, Williams jawed at Ramos without being assessed another violation right away.
"You will never ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live," Williams said as part of a rant that wasn't captured as part of the live broadcast. "You are the liar."
4
Van Natta reports that: "After the match, Serena sought out Ramos in the referee's lounge, and they talked behind closed doors for several minutes."
"Two sources told me Serena told Ramos she respected him as an umpire but she did not agree with his calls," Van Natta said. "Ramos told Serena, 'I have nothing against you personally, and I was just doing my job.'"
5
Umpires tend to be more lenient toward male players.
An investigation by Amy Lundy for ESPN showed that, although men get penalized more than women, men only get called on about 35 percent of potential violations, while women get code violations 45 percent of the time. Specifically, John Isner was given only a soft warning for coaching during the same US Open.
