Serena Williams Row: Stephen Curry Defends American's Behavior During US Open Final

Serena Williams continues to get support after her meltdown during the US Open women’s singles final Saturday, which she lost in straight sets to Japan’s Naomi Osaka. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is the latest to praise the way she handled the situation.

The American tennis legend had an almighty row with the chair umpire Carlos Ramos in the second set after she was first docked a point for two code violations and then docked a game after she violated a third time.

To recap, it all began early in the second set, when Williams received her first violation from the umpire for on-court coaching. Her coach Patrick Mouratoglou was seen making hand gestures for her to approach the net and later admitted he was coaching. The second came when she smashed her racket after losing serve while being 3-1 up, and that triggered an automatic point penalty.

The 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion argued the first violation was wrong and continued her tirade toward Ramos. Williams then went one step further and called the umpire a liar and a thief – which garnered her third violation for verbal abuse, which resulted in an automatic game penalty.

Ramos’ decision to dock a game enraged Williams further after which the tournament referee was summoned and the American insisted that a male player would not have faced the same consequences, inadvertently branding the umpire sexist. Her claims were immediately backed by Billie Jean King, USTA president Katrina Adams and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

Williams’ behavior on court was also widely criticized and it was not the first time that an incident such as this has occurred – she was docked points during her 2009 semi-final against Kim Clijsters for abusing a line judge and for a second time in 2011 during the final against Samantha Stosur. Moreover, the American almost ruined what was Osaka’s greatest moment in her relatively short career.

The row has since escalated with a number of former players and experts weighing in and criticism and praise has been in equal measure. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) backed Ramos’ actions on the night, while tennis legend Martina Navratilova also believes Williams’ behavior was uncalled for.

Curry, who plays in the NBA for the Warriors – the reigning back-to-back champions – is of the opinion that Williams handled the situation with grace. He also urged everyone to focus on the most important outcome Saturday, which was Osaka becoming the first Japanese tennis player to win a singles Grand Slam title.

“I would say a championship match in terms of high-level talent on the court between those two ladies... obviously Naomi deserved to win and she played amazing," Curry said, as per Yahoo Sports.

"The way Serena handled the situation, I think she handled it with such grace and class,” he added. “At the end of the day, I hope everybody understands and celebrates Naomi because she's the US Open champion and that's pretty dope."