Serena Williams' husband calls out Roger Federer over sexism saga
Alexis Ohanian has been slammed on the social media platform he founded after dragging Roger Federer into the Serena Williams saga.
Serena’s husband continues to express his thought’s about his wife’s controversial meltdown in the US Open final.
After slamming an Australian cartoonist’s ‘racist’ depiction of Serena, he then called out the New York Times over ‘misleading’ stats that purportedly smashed Serena’s claims of sexism.
And now he’s called out Federer.
Ohanian took to Twitter recently to seemingly support his wife’s claims that women are treated more harshly by umpires.
Ohanian retweeted a post highlighting how Federer had swore at a chair umpire at the 2009 US Open.
“Genuine question: How did that turn out for him?” Ohanian wrote, appearing to question why Federer hadn’t been given a code violation like Serena.
However fans were quick to slam Ohanian, pointing out that Federer did in fact receive an audible obscenity warning and a fine for the outburst.
A genuine question: do you even watch tennis?
— Optimist☀️ (@VolleyMePlease) September 18, 2018
Clearly doesn't, or she would have known that Fed was fined for an audible obscenity, which is a much lower offence than verbal abuse. Also, she doesn't understand that umpires threaten to boycott her matches because the WTA and USTA somehow decided to defend her verbal abuse.
— Antoine (@Costryme) September 18, 2018
He did not commit three fouls in a row that day. Leave him alone.
— Bel (@BeloveRF) September 18, 2018
But don't let facts come in the way of blind Serena worship.
Also Fed's rant sort of justified because ump wasn't following the rule. In Serena's case it was exactly the opposite – she had a problem because the ump followed the rule.— ರೆಜಿನ (@tennisfan03) September 18, 2018
Fed was talking about the time that the umpire was giving delpo to challenge (which was indeed too long). Also fed did get a code violation. As it was his first of the match it was a warning. He also got fined after the match.
— Littlelarrybirds (@lil_larry_birds) September 18, 2018
That doesn't justify your wife's behaviour. The umpire just followed the rules nd did what had to be done, nd the truth is that not all umpires follow the rules that's y male players 'get away with murder'.
— Samkelo ka Xhosa (@kaXhosa) September 18, 2018
Except Fed was asking why the ump wasn't following the rules while SW had a problem with ump following the rule. Fed didn't follow it up with a racquet smash, calling the ump a thief warranting increasing levels of penalty.
— ರೆಜಿನ (@tennisfan03) September 18, 2018
First of, it was Delpo who took a late challenge which caused the upset. Second, Roger didn't smashed a raquet, third, he didn't point with the finger to the umpire and fourth he didn't name the umpire a thief and a liar. Accept the wrong behaviour of your wife without bringing
— Doris (@DorisLaRubia) September 18, 2018
Roger into the discussion. You can criticize him the day he says that kind of stuff to umpires and linepersons your wife did over the years.
— Doris (@DorisLaRubia) September 18, 2018
Answer: he got fined $1500, the same amount as two other players coded for "audible obscenity" & 3 times as much as Serena's fine for "racquet abuse" at the same event. https://t.co/2QjPuVNVKl
— Ana Mitrić (@ana_mitric) September 18, 2018
Fined and lost match. Wasn’t 3rd offence tho. Not comparable.
— Susie20RF (@pandsreid) September 18, 2018
Ohanian’s tweet even found its way to Reddit, the social media platform that he co-founded.
Ohanian actually logged on and hit back at a number of fans for criticising him.
‘Mistakes were made’
Earlier this week Federer weighed in on the saga which has erupted since Serena accused umpire Carlos Ramos of being a thief, after taking a game off her for numerous code violations, including coaching.
Federer was careful not to blame one party for the saga, but did say every umpire had their own ‘style’ which can make it seem like different players are getting treated differently.
“It’s interesting but I think it’s important to look at it (players getting treated differently),” Federer told KVUE.
“Every umpire has their own style, it’s just how it is in any sport.
“In tennis you might have an umpire that gives more coaching violations and another guy goes more to time violation.
“You might get one guy who knows that this guy misbehaves quite often so I’ll give him a warning quicker or I’ll be more lenient with a guy because he’s a nice guy and just can’t control himself. I think it really depends on the situation.”
The Swiss star said the hoped sexism did not play any part in the punishments handed down to Serena, as the greatest female tennis player of all time claimed, and gave some indication as to how he thought the umpire could have handled the situation better.
“I hope it’s not the case (that there is gender bias) but I think what happened, obviously there was mistakes along the way and there should be more discretion sometimes,” Federer said.
“At the same time, they (the umpires) have to do their job, that’s what we want them to do.
“It’s been tricky but a really interesting case to study.”