Serena

Oooo, this is an interesting one. I’ve read the comments on twitter and the report in today's Telegraph ( don’t judge me) and watched the clip and I have seen that the referee has 'form' as he called out Venus in a previous match and that Serena has 'form' too when she ranted at a lineswoman when she was losing a match sometime before. I feel that a professional sportsperson should have had some psychological training so that they can engage some control when in a stressful situation. And it looks like the referee didn’t handle this well. Could he have called a break for five minutes? The thing is, Serena is a multi millionaire, award winning, record breaking sportswoman and business woman always in the public eye. I’m me, so I do feel I can’t really say she did anything wrong. Billy Jean's point that men are seen differently is possibly true, she sees it certainly. My other thought is, would this have happened at Wimbledon? I don’t think so.

I feel sorry for Naomi Osaka as her fantastic win has been totally overlooked

This. Crowd booing in her winning presentation was not great to watch

That's the real problem I have with all of this - the crowd behaved appallingly and all the joy was sucked out of her win because Serena had a rant and grabbed the headlines.

I don't disagree that the referee was a bit harsh - he applied the rules exactly as they are, but the problem was he went straight to sanction without giving Serena a couple of warnings first, and warnings normally happen. And I don't disagree that she was treated harshly compared to some male players in the same tournament (though they had different umpires so not a completely straight comparison). That is clearly a problem (so is differing treatment of the top players compared with others) and I have no issue with that being raised in an appropriate manner in the correct forum.

But at the end of the day Serena's coach knew he wasn't allowed to coach her but did it anyway (whether she noticed is irrelevant as she is the player on court but he is part of her team so the punishment has to go to her), Serena knew she's not allowed to smash her racquet but did it anyway , and Serena knew it was against the rules to be rude to the umpire but did it anyway so I think it was right for her to be punished, and I think the media are giving her a rather easy ride in many ways over this. She shouldn't have been docked a game, but the code violation point deduction was fair and she overreacted.

Once again the media is all about Serena and so little about Naomi Osaka's fantastic achievement, which is not how it should be.

I think she should have tried to stay a bit calmer but I don't think she was entirely at fault.

Going straight to a hard warning about coaching is very unusual in tennis no matter what the rules say. Normally a player is given a soft warning at the change of ends that their coach looks to be signalling. If it had been a player who had a reputation of coaching I would understand it but Serena is not that player and I very much doubt she was actively seeking coaching. There's footage of the same Umpire giving other players soft warnings in the past so why he chose a grand slam final of all places to do this is beyond me.

The racket smash, nothing he could do about that. It's a clear warning when the racket breaks.

The abuse is what I really don't understand, as many have said, including other players, much worse is said routinely by male players with no action taken. To dock a game at 4-3 in a gran slam final is a mystifying decision.

When Serena had her altercation with one of the lineswoman a few years back then she only had herself to blame, this isn't the case here at all. Shame as the match was just heating up and it detracted from Osaka's victory.

You are right. McEnroe was embarrassing when he had his tantrum at Wimbledon. Now he is one of the best commentators and probably one of the best players in the modern era. But his tantrum was juvenile compared to Serena's.

She was losing badly, she got annoyed and found a way to change the debate from the fact she was being thrashed by a much younger player. It was mean. The sooner she retires the better, she has won it all numerous times and she is increasingly going to get beaten badly like this. She is a great female player but her dominance to an extent reflects the time she has played in did not boast much competitiveness in the female game. Despite her strength and talent it is inconceivable that a player with decreasing mobility, as she has naturally been suffering from in recent years, could have dominated the men's game. I also think it is unfair for the points system to allow top players like her to pick and choose tournaments so they have to play little more than the Grand Slams against players who have had to play far more tournaments.

There were risible suggestions that race was involved. If there was any racism it was in the unfair demonization of Osaka whose only crime was to beat the local favourite.

US crowds tend to be hammered as they serve alcohol from early, there has long been talk of banning it from the golf majors. They are also not that knowledgeable. Serena clearly ought to retire but she wants the Grand slam record. Her behaviour was appalling.

Why should she retire? She had a baby a year ago and since then has been in two Grand Slam finals! I'm not sure she's ready for a zimmer frame yet.

Of course Nadal has also told an umpire he wouldn't be working on any of his matches again but didn't get this crap.

The Umpire reacted in an unusually harsh manner as anyone who actually follows tennis would notice. Why he chose to insert himself into a grand slam final I don't know but he contributed to near ruining it.

Unfortunately US Open crowds are normally boozed up though the French Open crowd can be similarly badly behaved.

In 2009 when Serena was also a defaulted a point it was entirely her own fault but that definitely wasn't the case here.

For far too long umpires have bowed down to the stars of the game, allowing them more leeway in their behaviour than lesser talents. This has led to a situation where stars seem to think that the laws of the game are not as necessary for them. I doubt that umpires have been pressured by commercial interests (although you never know) but their treating all players the same, regardless of ranking, gender or whatever is long overdue. You sense some of this approach in other sports too, where money and status gets you an easier ride.

Coaching is allowed at all other tournaments other than Grand Slams. And another player was penalised for it during the US Open this year - so she was not alone in that.

Her language towards the umpire was unacceptable. Whether others have said the same or worse does not matter a jot - rules are rules and the umpires should be applying them in every instance. She said stuff that went beyond the rules and suffered a penalty as a result.

She does have form for rules violations at the US Open:

2009 US Open semi-final: Already on a warning for racquet abuse earlier in the match, Williams launched into an angry outburst at a lineswoman after she was called for a foot fault which gave Kim Clijsters two match points. She was penalised a point for unsportsmanlike conduct and Clijsters won the match. Williams was placed on a two-year probation period and fined $175,000 (£135,000), reduced to $82,500 (£63,750) if she committed no further major offence through 2011.

2011 US Open final: Williams shouts "come on" as Sam Stosur attempts to return a shot and the point was awarded to the Australian. Williams then verbally abused umpire Eva Asderak and was fined $2,000 (£1,265).

If this leads to a crackdown against all players - fantastic. But rules are rules and you cannot complain if you break the rules and have to pay the price.