Tennis players are taught to just be monotone and people are not monotone: Serena Williams on why athletes should be allowed to show their emotions on court without fear of penalty
Serena Williams recently spoke about the "black and white" nature of tennis and the need to allow players to express their emotions.
While speaking to Meghan Markle on the Archetypes podcast, the former World No. 1 recalled the infamous incident at the 2018 US Open final, when she received a game penalty after calling chair umpire Carlos Ramos a "liar" and a "thief."
"I got a game taken away from me and I didn't use a bad word at all. But yeah that was nuts," Serena Williams said. "But, you know, I don't know, I just feel like there's obviously a double standard. I mean, and whether people want to admit it or not, that's okay. But just first of all, it makes tennis more exciting to see these players have these emotions/ Let's just say that because tennis is very, you know, black and white, not literally, but it's like hit, hit, hit. And there're so many rules of things that they try to tell you not to do."
The 23-time Major winner went on to speak about the contrast between tennis and other sports like soccer and basketball, where players and fans can express their emotions. She added that tennis players were taught to be "monotone."
"But if you look at soccer, if you look at basketball, if you look at all these other sports, you have people screaming and you have people, the fans, really a part of it," Williams continued. "And tennis players are grown up and taught to just like be monotone and people are not monotone, which is why you see these attitudes. So if they want to have these attitudes, I'm all for it. Just don't say I can't either, and, you know, I feel like, 'You know what? Let them be them but within reason obviously'."
Speaking further about the 2018 US Open final controversy, Serena Williams said that she was not proud of her behavior and was "totally at fault" before emphasizing that there was a double standard in the sport.
"And again, I just do feel that there was a moment where I wasn't proud of how I acted and how I behaved and I didn't like how I behaved at all. I think I was totally at fault there," she said. "But I think there's a lot of other moments where I'm just like being myself and like I said, I got a game taken away when I didn't use the curse word, not even one bad word, period. And so I just feel like there is obviously a double standard."
Serena Williams announced her retirement from tennis in 2022
Serena Williams shocked the tennis world in August when she announced that she would retire from the sport after the 2022 US Open. Williams was competing at the Canadian Open at the time and had just won her first match on tour since returning from a leg injury she suffered at Wimbledon in 2021.
At Flushing Meadows, the 23-time Grand Slam champion seemed like she might engineer a fairytale run to her seventh US Open title before a heart-breaking loss to Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round.