Some say that he was coaching her, and some say he wasn’t. But no matter what the call may of been, the outcome is still the same. Serena Williams faced one of the most controversial losses of her career at the U.S. open against Naomi Osaka. In William’s 6-2, and 6-4 loss to Osaka, she played perhaps one of her worst games of the tournament; however, her loss didn’t come without a fight.

Toward the end of the match, in a crucial set, Umpire Carlos Ramos issued Serena Williams a warning, then a penalty, and then a verbal abuse penalty, resulting in the loss of the set. According to USA Today, Williams called him a “thief and a “liar” after receiving the game altering penalty. Not only was Williams upset about the call, but she went to the extreme of even  breaking her racket in frustration over the call. The hand gestures in which William’s coach was making to her was one that the umpire thought as trying to give her coaching and an advantage over Osaka.

A game that ended in tears for both players, were tears for completely different reasons. For Williams, tears of pain and heartbreak; and for Osaka, tears of joy, but also sadness at the crowd booing her constantly during the ceremony. According to CNN, Williams “received fines of over $17,000,” for code violation acts. Not only was Williams upset about this one specific incident, but the idea of “sexism in the world of tennis as a whole” is what William’s believes is “more prominent than ever” within the world of tennis, according to CNN.

Zac Hardison (12) believes that “Williams does have a point about that of sexism being prominent in the world of tennis;” however, “her reaction to the umpire is one in which should’ve been handled a little different in order to make the situation more subtle.” Not only was William’s loss one of the most controversial within that if the tennis world but that in the sports world as a whole. Viewers are waiting to see if this incident with Serena will provoke future rule changes and code acts that can prevent another incident like this in the future.

With the match now being over, and the blood settled between Williams and Ramos, the question now is how will other tennis players react to this rule of coaching during matches, and handle that of sexism within that of the world of tennis? For many, the sport does indeed need reforming to rules and code violations that may come off as bias or unfair to women’s’ tennis rather than men’s. But in the end, the U.S. open still had one winner, It just may not feel like that for a little while.