Serena Williams Row: USTA President Apologizes To Carlos Ramos, Report Says

United States Tennis Association (USTA) president Katrina Adams seems to have backtracked on the comments made after Serena Williams’ row with chair umpire Carlos Ramos during the women’s singles final at the US Open last Saturday.

Williams was found guilty of three code violations in the second set during her final against Naomi Osaka, which resulted in the American being docked a game. She went on to lose the game 6-2, 6-4, but the result was the outcome of the Japanese tennis player outplaying the American and not the actions of the Portuguese chair umpire.

The former world number one, however, had a complete meltdown when she was docked a point for a second code violation when she broke her racket as she insisted that the first violation for on-court coaching was wrong. Williams’ anger failed to recede as she went on to call Ramos a thief and a liar, which resulted in the third violation and a game penalty which then sent the final into complete chaos.

The American, a 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion, asked to speak to the tournament referee and went on to accuse Ramos of making a sexist action. Williams insisted that a male tennis player would not have suffered the same fate as her had he made the same comments.

Williams’ meltdown was noticed by the entire sporting fraternity with opinions divided on whether her behavior toward the official was warranted or not. The American’s claims of sexism were backed by Billie Jean King, the Women’s Tennis Association and the president of the USTA, who said there is no equality when it comes to penalties meted out to male and female tennis players.

“We watch the guys do this all the time, they’re badgering the umpire on the changeovers. Nothing happens. There’s no equality,” Adams said in the immediate aftermath of the incident on Saturday, according to news.com.au. “There has to be some consistency across the board. These are conversations that will be imposed in the next weeks.”

Adams and Ramos have now come face-to-face with each other not too long after the US Open final incident as the latter prepares to officiate the Davis Cup tie between the United States and Croatia.

The two were pictured together having a conversation in Zadar and according to Associated Press journalist Andrew Dampf, the USTA president was heard apologizing to the Portuguese official. If proven true, it will be a major backflip from one of Williams’ biggest supporter in her row against Ramos.

The chair umpire recently broke his silence after all the furor since the women’s singles final and admitted he was “fine” under the circumstances.

Ramos has also got the support from United States Davis Cup captain Jim Courier, who believes the umpire was just enforcing the rules of the game as he has done throughout his career.

"It's been polarized and in some ways politicized," Courier told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But we have no doubt that Carlos was just enforcing the rules as he sees them."