
In the wake of Serena Williams’ controversial outburst at the women’s US Open final, the headlines have been flooded with opinions.
From questions over whether umpire Carlos Ramos’ calls were fair to questions over double standards and sexism, there’s a lot to discuss.
But there’s one fact we’re not talking about.
While Grand Slam tournaments often end in a big pay-day for professional tennis players, like singles titles winners Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams’ opponent Naomi Osaka who each took home AUD$5.35 million, it’s incredibly different for umpires.
Despite being a gold-badged judge, which makes him one of the highest-rated officials in professional tennis, the chair umpire of Williams and Osaka’s controversial game Carlos Ramos was paid a mere AUD$633 for his time.
Umpiring is so easy from the top of the grand stand.
I can also confirm that Carlos Ramos earned his pay in that match. His pay? US$450 which is the daily rate all USTA umpires are paid. https://t.co/Uzn992GlhV
— Richard Ings (@ringsau) September 10, 2018
The news, which was shared on Twitter by former professional chair umpire Richard Ings, means Portugese official Ramos earned just $85 more than Williams earned for each second she was on the court yesterday.
As pointed out by news.com.au, besides being docked $24,000 for verbally abusing Ramos on the court, as runner-up, Williams took home $2.6 million.
Despite being at the centre of the controversy for his decision to penalise Williams, there’s no denying that the 47-year-old’s pay packet is considerably low for someone who is calling the big decisions in one of the most important games of the year.
Top Comments
Here's a great explanation of what happened - https://old.reddit.com/r/te...
Yep, it's pretty disgusting. The same with how ball kids are expected to meet a ton of requirements and put in massive hours (for kids especially) and their pay is basically "you can keep your hat."
Not to mention NFL cheer leaders. Sure they're a bit antiquated, but my god do they get paid slave labour wages.
Pretty sure that none of these people are forced to do these things.
That doesn't make it ok to exploit them.