Roger Federer Says Serena Williams Umpire Row 'Really Interesting Case To Study'

Roger Federer weighed in on the highly-debated row between Serena Williams and umpire Carlos Ramos.

Tennis made headlines earlier this month as the US Open women's singles final between Williams and Naomi Osaka became notorious for the former's outburst at Ramos.

Ramos gave Williams a code violation during the second set after the American's coach Patrick Mouratoglou (admittedly) attempted to coach her from the stands, though Williams vehemently denied she received any coaching.

She would later receive a second violation for breaking her racquet in frustration, resulting in a point penalty as well, before verbally attacking Ramos. Williams demanded an apology and called Ramos a thief among other things, as he proceeded to give her a third violation and a game penalty for verbal abuse.

Williams eventually lost to Osaka 2-6, 4-6 and accused Ramos of sexism after the game, claiming male players have gotten away with much worse.

The issue has since divided the entire tennis world with some on the side of Williams, including the Women's Tennis Assocation and United States Tennis Association.

However, the majority seem to be on the side of Ramos as many believe he was simply doing his job, with the experienced umpire notably receiving support from the International Tennis Federation as well as his fellow umpires who are even considering boycotting the 23-time Grand Slam champion's matches unless she apologizes.

So what does Federer have to say about it? The Swiss legend believes it's an "interesting case to study" but largely remained diplomatic about the entire issue.

"It’s interesting but I think it’s important to look at it," Federer told KVUE, as quoted on the Express. "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."

"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. At the same time, they have to do their job, that’s what we want them to do. It’s been tricky but a really interesting case to study."

Williams is yet to comment about the issue since the day of the final but in a preview clip of an interview with "The Project" that is set to be released this Sunday, she reiterated she received no coaching from Mouratoglou.

"He (Mouratoglou) said he made a motion. I don’t understand what he was talking about. We’ve never had signals," Williams stated before talking about sexism in the sport, "I just don’t understand. If you’re a female you should be able to do even half of what a guy can do."