If we could examine Serena Williams’s on-court behaviour at the US Open final in isolation, as a response to one individual umpiring call, this would be a very short discussion. Verbally abusing an official in sport is never OK, it is easy to agree on that.

Most also agree that the offences were punishable by the letter of the law, albeit that the law is not always evenly applied and plenty of luminaries – from Chris Evert to Billie Jean King – have questioned whether the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, could have dialled down the drama with a warning rather than firing shots at the first offence.

The bigger question is whether tennis has a problem with women – and with black women in particular...

To read the full article by Anna Kessel, visit The Guardian.