As for the call itself, IMO it's definitely within the wheelhouse of what can reasonably be considered "verbal abuse", whether or not I think I would have called it myself.
I don't know exactly how it compares to other things that were called or weren't called, but it's tennis, I doubt worse than this happens very often.
If you take it in a vacuum and ignore that it's a grand slam final and that it's Serena and that she's presently sitting on 2 violations, I feel like berating him for several minutes and calling him an insult that demeans his integrity is actually like a picture perfect example of what "verbal abuse" of an official looks like.
I don't know what would qualify if not that.
So the reasons not to call it mostly have to do with deference to it being a finals match and/or to the superstar.
I feel like you don't get to push it to the brink like that and then "oh, must have been sexism".
It seems this ref has a reputation for being strict, calling verbal abuse on Andy Murray for saying "stupid umpiring", and other examples. If the call against Serena is bad, the most likely explanation is that he has a tighter standard than most.
I've said that I don't think rules like "verbal abuse" should be a thing, but not calling it when it indeed is one of the rules seems to just be unfairly favoring a player at the expense of the other, and so it's hard to say that would be a great thing to do either.
"Unsportsmanlike conduct" in football maybe shouldn't be a thing, but as long as it's a rule, you'd probably feel cheated if the other side did it and the ref sat on their whistle.
She can call bullshit and that the call sucks and she got screwed etc., like basically every other athlete who disagrees with a borderline call would do.
The only double-standard I can see is that she reacts this way instead and actually draws a little bit of support for it.
Shit, I'm sold! I thought it was pretty whiny at first too but then someone hit me with the men say worse shit all the time argument and I thought, oh that's terrible!!!
It probably wasn't the argument itself that had me convinced but my love for Serena; basically I suppose at that point I was just waiting for someone to say something in her defense and it happened.
Now that you mentioned it, though, it really doesn't sound like a very sensible or matured argument. I suppose she just got riled up and lost it 😣😭.
Also, I still don't like that refree -__- haha
hahah ya for sure man, Serena's awesome and she's GOAT. I have no problem with not liking the call, or with her being mad about it, just with calling it sexism 😐😐
In a sense it's probably hard to blame her, cause like, the sexism thing is something that some people will respond to and rally behind. So like.. it certainly seems effective, in terms of having a way to lash back at the ump hehe.
So if she feels like it will stick and people will believe her, it's like she knows she has that weapon.
I guess it's kind of mixed and polarized. Some people agree and others are like "wat?"