Much has been written about her loss to Japan’s Naomi Osaka. The run-in with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, the outburst, the calls of sexism and racism. Not a lot has been written about Osaka’s win which is probably the saddest thing of all.

Her’s was a victory that may well forever be written about as the day Williams lost the match and lost her cool.

I’m happy to admit I don’t mind the occasional outburst, anyone who’s played any sport with or against me knows that. There are even times when an umpire needs a gentle reminder to get back in the game, or indeed get off their phone, as happened a few hockey seasons ago.

But when it comes to tennis, I waver between two camps. I grew up watching John McEnroe but I loved Stefan Edberg too. Pete Sampras bored me but I marvelled at his tennis. I wanted to be Steffi Graf, even moreso when she married Andre Agassi. Tennis has always been theatre with a mix of characters and cast, set on that perfect rectangular stage.

I don’t watch it much anymore. This latest crop of players all seem too entitled, that’s a problem I suffer within all walks of life, young people feeling as though they are owed something.

But I watched this game and, like many others, I felt divided.

Billie Jean King wrote that Ramos was guilty of “an abuse of power” saying that he treated Williams differently than male players. But then Martina Navratilova said she didn’t believe in the idea of “if men can get away with it, women should be able to, too” saying that Williams would have been better served conducting herself with “respect for the sport we love so dearly”.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Williams was losing. The crowd was a typical ratty US Open one. She got a couple of warnings and then all hell broke loose. She calls him a thief and a liar. Smashes a racket and loses a point, and a game. It was not a pretty sight.

And then she lost me.

Perhaps I have the cause totally wrong but it frustrates me greatly when women play the victim card. Williams was being punished for being a prat, not because she was a woman, or indeed a woman of colour, as some people have suggested. Yes, maybe she’s right when she says she’s seen men get away with it. Maybe Ramos was in a bad mood and would have punished any player the same way that day. We’ll never know.

But for whatever happened, none of it made it right for her to behave that way.

If she is being a role model for women, as she often likes to tell us she is, then she should check her own behaviours and set higher standards. It was just a bad day at the office. I’m sure she realises that now.

Whether tennis learns anything from the incident is yet to be seen.

You’d think it would be a hard road, given the recent decision to penalise Alize Cornet for switching her shirt around mid game. How many points would Novak Dokovic have lost over the years for baring a muscled chest? Nor the French Open’s dress code decision.

Fighting for these two causes is a much better use of everyone’s energy. If Williams is there to fight for women’s rights and women’s equality, let’s start with things that can be measured and not the defence of entitled behaviour.