New York (AFP)
Portuguese referee Carlos Ramos will not match any match involving the Williams sisters at the US Open, the tournament decided, a year after the final lost by Serena Williams after having a penalty game against Naomi Osaka.
At the 2018 edition, the young Japanese Osaka (21) won in two sets 6-2, 6-4 against the queen of the Williams circuit, sanctioned by a penalty game at the base of the controversy that makes still flow a lot of ink in the approach of the American tournament (August 26-September 8).
Serena Williams was violently beaten after being warned three times, the first for "coaching", the second for "racket break" and the last for qualifying referee Carlos Ramos as a "thief". She also described the referee's attitude as "sexist".
Osaka was booed at the awards ceremony, consoled by Williams in tears, saying "sorry that it ends like this" in front of his audience.
Twelve months later, Stacey Allaster, head of professional tennis at the American Tennis Federation and coaching the US Open, announced that Carlos Ramos, summoned for the American fortnight, will not officiate at matches of sisters Williams.
"It's our collective decision - we want to focus on the competition," she said, adding that no such request had been filed by Camp Williams.
The US Open referee, Sören Friemel, noted that the tournament had already made such decisions before the Ramos case. "In the end, our goal is to assign the best chair umpire for each match, (...) taking into account all the factors".
"This is not the first time we have made good decisions for the tournament, for the players, for the referees too, not to register them at these matches," he said, adding that if Ramos does not will not cross the road of the American 23 Grand Slam titles, it will not be deprived of other high-level matches.
© 2019 AFP