New York Sep 10 (IANS) Tennis star Serena Williams has been fined $17 000 by the organizers of the US Open for committing three violations of the code of conduct during the second set of the women s final which she lost on the weekend to Japan s Naomi Osaka 6-2 6-4.
Williams was sanctioned in the second set by the judge seated at the net Portugal s Carlos Ramos for receiving help - in the form of a hand signal - from the box of her coach Patrick Mouratoglou breaking her racket against the court surface and verbally abusing the judge by calling him a thief reports Efe news.
Williams who was fined on Sunday called the judge s decision "sexist" at a later press conference saying that she had seen male players calling umpires "several things" but they were not penalized for their behaviour.
Her actions eclipsed the triumph of the 20-year-old Osaka who became the first Japanese tennis player to win the US Open and a Grand Slam single s tourney.
The US player 36 who was competing in her 14th US Open failed to win her seventh title in the season s last Grand Slam event a win that would have been the 24th of her career thus allowing her to tie the legendary Margaret Court of Australia in terms of tourney wins.
Williams received $1.85 million for playing in the final. Her fine will be deducted from that amount.

--IANS kk/bg