Knowing Carlos Ramos

CEBU, Philippines — The name might sound like a notorious South American cartel kingpin but no, he’s not a crime boss. Notorious probably because he made conditions miserable on the elites of the racquet sport.  The man is the cause and effect of the classic supernova tantrum of Serena Williams.

Carlos Ramos was born in 1971 at Lisbon, Portugal but now makes Lyon, France his home.  He started umpiring in his teens, rose from the ranks and earned the highest level for a tennis official, the gold badge, in 1993 and now belongs to elite team of International Tennis Federation/Grand Slam umpires.

Colleagues know him to be a strict and decisive umpire who plays things by the book, thus his specialty is calling violations.  He is one of the very few umpires who are not afraid of calling violations against the nobility of tennis.  Aside from speaking his native tongue, he is also fluent in French and Spanish which makes him suited for his position.

Ramos is the only tennis umpire who had chair umpired a men’s singles finals at all four Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympics singles final and a number of Davis Cup matches, including the recent Cup at Croatia.  Officiating the women’s finals at the US Open earned him an Umpire Golden Slam.

The world’s governing body for tennis, ITF, defended him on that controversy saying that Ramos “undertook his duties as an official according to the relevant rule book and acted at all times with professionalism and integrity.”

Michael Morrissey, who once headed ITF’s officiating team and the only umpire who simultaneously held 3 gold badges as chair umpire, chief umpire and referee, said, “Carlos is an umpire with a great reputation for being fair but firm.  When I say fair, I mean being able to withstand the pressures of being a chair umpire, the pressure of the players, the crowds, the occasion.”

The drama at the US Open accused him of being sexist but things prove otherwise as time and again, he also called violations on top male players like:

Nick Kyrgios – for yelling at a ball boy for a towel at the 2016 French Open, he was called for a code violation.  Kyrgios then accused Ramos of double standard and said the call was “unbelievable bias”.

Andy Murray – at the 2016 Rio Olympics was called for a code violation for what Ramos believed he heard “stupid umpire”.  Murray said, “I didn’t say ‘stupid umpire’, I said ‘stupid umpiring’.  But if you want to be the star of the show, that’s fine.”  At the 2017 French Open, he was called a time violation for playing slow and he thought that decision was strange.

Rafael Nadal – was called for a time violation during the 2017 French Open and said that Ramos was putting pressure on him.

Novak Djokovic – also at the 2017 French Open, multiple time violations were called on him.  Frustrated, he yelled to himself in Serbian and flipped a ball to a ball boy behind him.  Ramos rewarded him with an unsportsmanlike conduct.  At the recent US Open, Djokovic was given a code violation for slamming his racquet into the ground.  He complained of double standard citing that Kei Nishikori did something similar but was not penalized.  Maybe the racquet was not deformed?

Fame or infamy, whichever way you put it, introduced Carlos Ramos to the tennis followers.  Because rules prevented him from talking to the media, he declined to comment on the Serena issue.

Prior to the start of games, information is released as to who will be on the officiating crew.  Aside from knowing their opponents, players also need to be ready for the conditions on the court, the crowd and the game officials that could change outcome of the game.  Yes, and be prepared for Carlos Ramos which Serena obviously was not.