OPINION: Dear Serena, don't dare use sexism as any sort of excuse or distraction for your loss in the US Open final to Naomi Osaka.
In fact don't let your ego and pride get in the way of taking responsibility for your actions.
Quoting sexism and protesting that male players don't get treated the same is a desperate attempt to hide your own faults. Male players over the years have definitely felt the wrath of officials.
Note that Italian Fabio Fognini was defaulted from the US Open last year for verbal abuse of an official.
Nick Kyrgios was told he would face a longer ban than what he already had if he didn't seek help for his mental frailties. John McEnroe was kicked out of the Australian Open in 1990 and given an ultimatum to buck up his behaviour or he'd be banned for several months.
And there are many more cases like these with other male players.
Recently, the same umpire - Carlos ramos - who is widely respected, gave Novak Djokovic a code violation Wimbledon recently. He's done the same to Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Venus Williams, so he fears no-one and is a stickler for the rules.
The players in the finals knew he was the umpire so they were aware of what he was like.
The key factor is that none of these other players carried on screaming and gesticulating at the umpire. You won't win against the umpire - and you're not going to win against any sports official if you call them a liar or a thief.
Serena Williams has had issues on three previous occasions at the US Open. In 2004, she was penalised against Jennifer Capriati.
In 2009, she was given a point penalty against Kim Clijsters in the women's final, which meant game, set and match. In 2011, she threatened a linesperson with a f***king ball down her throat and was defaulted out of the final against Aussie Sam Stosur.
Obviously, none of those were Serena's fault either (enter sarcasm here).
And this time, even if she was ignoring her coach's signals, they were against the rules and had been going on throughout the match. She's knew that was wrong and so did her coach.
Everyone else may be doing it (which is a pretty lame excuse), but she got caught. Then smashing your racquet on the court and verbal abuse of the umpire are becoming of a champ.
Talent, but no class. Fighting for women's rights needs class, not crass behaviour and abuse.
And finally, let's spare a though for Naomi Osaka, who won comprehensively on the scoreboard, and deserves the credit and kudos.
Let's hope this is the first of many more Grand Slam titles, where she can celebrate victory, not apologise for winning.
Dave Worsley is a Newshub sports reporter on location in New York City
