(CNN) — Serena Williams’ heated dispute with the umpire during the US Open final is the latest controversy involving the tennis superstar in recent months. Japan’s Naomi Osaka beat Williams on Saturday in a Grand Slam showdown that ended in tears for both players – for different reasons. What was supposed to be a fairy-tale matchup for Osaka and the player she idolizes spun out of control after Williams was handed code violations that she described as unfair. The U.S. Open hit Williams with fines totaling $17,000 for three violations, the U.S. Tennis Association said Sunday. The 23-time Grand Slam champion has faced racist attacks for most of her career, and after the match Saturday, she said she believes sexism is rampant in the sport. Here’s a look back at some recent times sexism has been called out on the tennis court: Serena calls the umpire a ‘thief’ Williams accused umpire Carlos Ramos of sexism after she was handed a series of code violations during Saturday’s match. Ramos first gave Williams a code violation warning for coaching after he ruled that her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, gave her hand signals from the stands. Then she got a point penalty for smashing her racket, followed by a game penalty for verbal abuse after she confronted the umpire. “You stole a point from me and you are a thief,” Williams told Ramos prompting the game penalty ruling. Jaime Lawson/Getty Images North America/Getty Images for USTA At a news conference following her loss, Williams said she’s seen male players call other umpires “several things.” “I’m here fighting for women’s rights and for women’s equality and for all kinds of stuff. For me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark,” she said. “He’s never taken a game from a man because they said ‘thief.’ For me it blows my mind. But I’m going to continue to fight for women,” Williams said. The International Tennis Federation released this statement Monday: “Carlos Ramos is one of the most experienced and respected umpires in tennis. Mr. Ramos’ decisions were in accordance with the relevant rules and were re-affirmed by the US Open’s decision to fine Serena Williams for the three offenses. “It is understandable that this high profile and regrettable incident should provoke debate. At the same time, it is important to remember that Mr. Ramos undertook his duties as an official according to the relevant rule book and acted at all times with professionalism and integrity.” Related: Racist Serena Williams cartoon ‘nothing to do with race,’ paper says Billie Jean King, a tennis legend and equal rights advocate, agreed with Williams. “When a woman is emotional, she’s “hysterical” and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s “outspoken” & and there are no repercussions. Thank you, Serena Williams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same,” King tweeted. For Christine Brennan, a CNN sports analyst, the clashes between Williams and the umpire show that women are not being treated equally in the tennis world. “We know that there’s quite a history to it. Think of John McEnroe, think of Ilie Nastase, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi. These men all berated chair umpires, famously so. Commercials have been made. McEnroe has done, ‘you can’t be serious’ and all the other tirades, top of his lungs over the years and none of them received a game penalty,” Brennan said. “Would he (umpire) have done that with a man? History has said, no. He would not have done that with a man.” Retired US tennis star Andy Roddick tweeted, “I’ve regrettably said worse and I’ve never gotten a game penalty.” Alize Cornet is penalized for fixing her top Williams isn’t the only tennis player to find herself at the center of a gender-focused controversy. French tennis player Alize Cornet received a code violation a few weeks ago for briefly taking off her shirt on the court. During a 10-minute break from the blistering heat at Flushing Meadows, Cornet rushed off-court to change her shirt. When she returned, she realized that she was wearing it the wrong way and fixed her top. Abaca Press/SIPAPRE/Sipa USA via AP Alize Cornet at the 2018 US Open in New York on August 28, 2018. In a statement, the US Open said it regretted the way Cornet was treated. The organization added that all players are allowed to change their shirts while sitting in their chairs while female players have the option to change shirts in “a more private location close to the court, when available.” Related: US Open embroiled in sexism controversy However, male players have changed shirts many times on court without a problem. On Tuesday, John Isner changed his shirt 11 times throughout his three-plus hour match against Juan Martin del Potro. A day later, Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic sat shirtless for several minutes while his opponent, John Millman of Australia, stepped away to change his shirt during a quarterfinals match. Neither of them was penalized. Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Novak Djokovic stayed in court while John Millman of Australia left the pitch to change his shirt due to the humidity during a US Open Men's singles quarter-finals match on Wednesday. And Rafael Nadal regularly takes off his shirt after winning a match. Officials introduce dress code after Serena’s catsuit In Williams’ first major tennis match after giving birth, her outfit stole the show. In May, Williams wore a black catsuit at the French Open that helped her blood circulation after a difficult childbirth last September. Her Nike outfit, which she said was inspired by the movie “Black Panther,” was praised by her fans but had tennis officials shaking their heads. CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images Serena Williams wore a black catsuit in Paris the French Open in May. French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli announced late last month that he will be introducing a new dress code that would ban players from wearing such form-fitting clothes at the tennis tournament. “One must respect the game and the place,” Giudicelli said. Unlike Wimbledon, which has an all-white dress code, the French tournament never had a dress code before. Williams, who has dealt with body shaming and even criticism over her dark features, took the high road and said she was not upset. “We already talked. We have a great relationship,” Williams said of Giudicelli last month, laughing as she added, “Everything is fine, guys.” After the controversy, she left the suit at home and wore a stylish black-and-brown one-shoulder silhouette dress with a tulle skirt at her first US Open match this year. The $500 dress was designed by Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director Virgil Abloh in partnership with Nike. Related: Alize Cornet says tennis chief’s Serena catsuit comments are ‘10,000 times worse’ than her treatment at US Open While Serena took the dress code change in stride, many of her fans – including some famous ones – called the move sexist. Actress Elizabeth Banks wrote on Twitter: “The amount of control men feel the need to exert over women is petty-level with this one. Serena Williams is the GOAT. The game respects HER.” Television show creater Shonda Rhimes wrote: “The game seems quite content to be played no matter what women wear. Perhaps this man should focus on his own fashion choices and respect the GOAT’s right to wear whatever the hell she pleases. #getoffhercourt”<doc-sep>Serena Williams has maintained that she did not receive coaching in the U.S. Open women’s singles final in her first public comments since the post-match press conference. In a forthcoming interview with Australian talk show The Project, the tennis superstar refuted comments that her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, made about gesturing to her from the stands during her matchup with Japan’s Naomi Osaka. “We all know that all the coaches coach at every match, all year long,” Mouratoglou said. “So this is the rule. Then there is the psychology the chair umpire is supposed to have. Tell Serena, ‘I’ve seen your coach do a movement, stop, otherwise you’ll have a warning.’ I don’t understand why he didn’t do that.” Chair umpire Carlos Ramos issued Williams a code violation when he spotted Mouratoglou making a hand gesture toward her. This led to an argument between Williams and Ramos that escalated throughout the final. “I don’t cheat to win, I’d rather lose,” Williams was heard telling him. “He [Mouratoglou] said he made a motion,” Williams says in a clip from the interview. “I don’t understand what he was talking about. We’ve never had signals.” Williams also reasserted her belief that a gender-based double standard exists in tennis. “I just don’t understand,” Williams told The Project. “If you’re female, you should be able to do even half of what a guy can do.” Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.<doc-sep>Serena Williams may have been fined $17,000 for a trio of code violations at the US Open, and her on-court arguments with chair umpire Carlos Ramos may have overshadowed an otherwise memorable Grand Slam win for 20-year-old Naomi Osaka. She does, however, have the support of one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Four-time US Open champion Billie Jean King opened up on this weekend's controversy in a piece for The Washington Post, and her opinion was clear: Serena was right to stand up to Ramos' calls, which penalized her for breaking a racket, receiving hand signals from her coach and then defending those violations to Ramos. And King was adamant that it wasn't Williams' debate with Ramos that took away from Osaka's victory so much as it was "an archaic rule" and an "abuse of power." "If tennis would catch up with the 21st century and allow coaching on every point," King wrote, "the situation on the court would never have escalated to the level of absurdity that it did." Even worse than the rules, however, King identified Ramos as the main culprit in Saturday's incident. "He made himself part of the match," she wrote. "He involved himself in the end result. An umpire's job is to keep control of the match, and he let it get out of control. The rules are what they are, but the umpire has discretion, and Ramos chose to give Williams very little latitude in a match where the stakes were highest." King admitted that Williams could have done more to control her emotions, but she also noted that male tennis players haven't always been given such a short leash when it comes to expressing themselves on the court. Did Ramos treat Williams differently than male players have been treated? I think he did. Women are treated differently in most arenas of life. This is especially true for women of color. And what played out on the court yesterday happens far too often. It happens in sports, in the office and in public service. Ultimately, a woman was penalized for standing up for herself. A woman faced down sexism, and the match went on. King isn't alone in defending Williams, who has six US Open singles titles under her own belt. As Deadspin reported this week, the U.S. Tennis Association and the Women's Tennis Association have released statements backing Williams and calling out a "difference in the standards of tolerance" by officials -- even with another governing body, the International Tennis Federation, defending Ramos for acting with "professionalism and integrity." Famed author J.K. Rowling, meanwhile, has voiced her support for Williams amid backlash to a cartoon depicting Serena's feud with Ramos, as CBS News reported, calling Williams "one of the greatest sportswomen alive."<doc-sep>
Nike athletes LeBron James and Serena Williams are longtime supporters of each other. (Getty Images) The Serena Williams controversy at this year’s U.S. Open divided viewers. Many critics believe her confrontation with chair umpire Carlos Ramos was unbecoming of a professional tennis player, and many supporters believe that ignores deeper-seated gender and race issues that influence that view. LeBron James, who knows first-hand the microscope that superstar athletes find themselves under, told The Hollywood Reporter that he views the Williams saga through the lens of his daughter, Zhuri, a 4-year-old African-American female who in his eyes could benefit from Serena’s trailblazing efforts. “What we all have to understand is what she is fighting for is bigger than just that match,” said James. “She is fighting for equality — always having to win more, more, more, just to feel equal. Being an African-American woman playing in a predominantly white sport, she’s dealing with so much more. I have no idea what was going on in her head, but I feel that struggle.” What was the U.S. Open controversy? With Williams trailing Naomi Osaka 1-0 in the second set of her eventual 6-2, 6-4 loss in the U.S. Open final, Ramos issued the six-time U.S. Open champion a warning for allegedly receiving signals from her coach. Later in the set, Ramos cited her for breaking her racket in frustration, and when she called him a “thief” for penalizing her a point, he issued a third violation that cost her a game. Afterwards, Williams defended her actions, making the case that chair umpires treat her male counterparts with far more resiliency with respect to emotional outbursts in the heat of competition. “He never took a game from a man because he said ‘thief,'” she said. “For me, it blows my mind, but I’m going to continue to fight for women. … The fact I have to go through this is just an example for the next person that has emotions and wants to express themselves and wants to be strong woman.” In LeBron’s eyes, that next woman could be his daughter. Story continues The support and criticism of Serena Williams Tennis icon Billie Jean King also applauded Serena for calling out sexism in the sport, and the Women’s Tennis Association stood behind their brightest star. Online petitions have decried the United States Tennis Association’s “sexism” and “racism” after the governing body fined Williams. Meanwhile, criticism has ranged from mild to incendiary. Martina Navratilova suggested “it wasn’t the right time” to cite sexism immediately following Osaka’s historical victory. While Novak Djokovic said he thought Ramos pushed Williams too far, he also didn’t believe his rulings were gender-motivated. And the clearest example of racism against Williams came from an Australian newspaper cartoonist. There is no doubt that Williams is making us rethink the way race and gender influence our perception of sports. Support from fellow superstars like James will only help to advance that message. We should also applaud Osaka, whose success as the daughter of a Haitian man and Japanese woman is breaking barriers. It is encouraging that Zhuri James can draw inspiration from so many role models. – – – – – – – Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! More from Yahoo Sports: • Wrongfully imprisoned man freed thanks to Golf Digest • Former NFL player explains why he retired at halftime • Tim Brown: Story of the man who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. • Arbitrator: Former UFC champ Jones had ‘no intention’ to cheat