YOU don’t have to be a tennis fan to know that Serena Williams caused a bit of a scene during the final of the US Open at the weekend.

What started with the 23-times Grand Slam winner receiving a coaching warning from umpire Carlos Ramos ended in defeat and a $17,000 fine for the star, who was penalised a game after putting on a display that included smashing her racquet against the court and calling Ramos a string of names including “liar” and “thief”.

If the behaviour sounds familiar that’s probably because you’ve seen it many times before, with everyone from Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal to Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios prone to a bit of racquet throwing and umpire baiting.

The difference – and the reason why Williams became so upset – is that while Murray’s courtside histrionics often go unchecked because they are seen as a by-product of his legendary focus, and Federer’s unsportsmanlike language is regularly displayed with impunity, her behaviour was judged as beyond the pale.

Yes, Ramos was correct to apply the rules in the way he did, but if they aren’t being meted out to men in similar fashion then surely Williams is right: sex discrimination is alive and well at the heart of the sport.

Former tennis champion and gender equality campaigner Billie Jean King – after whom the tennis centre in which the US Open is played is named – certainly takes that view. In the aftermath of the tournament she thanked Williams on social media for “calling out this double standard”, noting that “when a woman is emotional, she’s hysterical and she’s penalised for it. When a man does the same, he’s outspoken and there are no repercussions. More voices are needed to do the same,” she added.

BBC tennis presenter Sue Barker, a former world number three, provided one of those voices, noting that while Ramos could not be faulted for his interpretation of the rules “Serena has a point. I’ve sat courtside watching the men ranting at umpires and they haven’t been given a violation,” Barker said.

Similarly, Women’s Tennis Association chief executive Steve Simon issued a statement saying that, while the organisation “believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men versus women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same”, it does not believe that happened to Williams on Sunday.

However, fresh from his win in the men’s tournament in New York, Novak Djokovic had a different take, saying that men and women are simply “treated in this way or the other way depending on the situation” before adding “I don’t see it’s necessary really to debate that”.

Yet to dismiss the subject without having a proper debate would seem to reinforce the idea that tennis is a sport that has discrimination firmly at its core. After all, there’s nothing like a member of a group that hasn’t experienced prejudice telling someone from a group that feels it has that their experiences aren’t real. No wonder Williams felt she had to shout so loudly.

We should all be grateful she did. While Williams’s tremendous record of Grand Slam wins has obviously been great for her personally, for many millions of women and girls around the world it has been transformational.

In showing that there is no limit to what can be achieved Williams is, in many ways, the female role model par excellence. If such a woman was to simply accept discriminatory treatment, what kind of example would that set?

Much of the venom against Williams has focused on her using the words “I have a daughter” during her courtside tirade, with countless commentators questioning the relevance of the remark.

Yet the subtext of the comment seems clear: if, as a woman at the top of the game, Williams did not use her position to call out behaviour that unfairly penalises women at every other level, how could she go home and look her daughter in the eye?

Being a role model to millions is one thing, but being a role model to your own child is a whole new ball game.

Yes, Williams caused one hell of a scene, and her actions undeniably overshadowed what for her opponent, 20-year-old Naomi Osaka of Japan, who was playing in her first Grand Slam final, should have been a moment of pure, unmitigated glory.

But the fact that United States Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said the organisation would “analyse ways of perhaps instituting some change” in order to bring “some more consistency to this”, means that the outburst could well improve the lot of every female player.

That, ultimately, has got to be to the benefit of the entire sport.

Put like that, far from being the villain of the piece, Williams – a woman whose actions have proved she is unafraid to, as she said on Sunday, “stand for what’s right”, no matter what the cost to herself – is nothing short of a hero.