Andrew Castle defends Venus Williams’ handshake snub to Wimbledon umpire, cites Jose Mourinho’s antics against referees calling football ‘tribal’

Andrew Castle tries to defend Venus Williams and her way of behaving with the match referee, saying that other sports are far more aggressive.

Andrew Castle defends Venus Williams’ handshake snub to Wimbledon umpire, cites Jose Mourinho’s antics against referees calling football ‘tribal’

Venus Williams(left) and Andrew Castle (right) (Image via: Getty Images)

Former tennis player Andrew Castle has come onto the scene and has defended several tennis players and their way of behaving with the match umpires, saying that it is not at all harmful. He feels that there are several other sports where the umpires have to deal with far more fierce circumstances, and the players do not show much respect to them as well.

This statement came after Venus Williams decided not to shake hands with the match referee after her match against Elina Svitolina in the very first round of the ongoing Wimbledon. After her shocking 6-4, 6-4 defeat, Venus was visibly upset with the match decision and decided not to shake her hands with the umpire.

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In an interview with Grosvenor Sport, the former tennis star briefly opened up about this incident, saying that football is far more aggressive and “players are not punished there”. That’s not all, he even went on to highlight the fact that football has become extremely “tribal.”

As per Castle himself, tennis players are well ahead of them in terms of morality. He cited one of the hot incidentsinvolving Jose Mourinho.

Look at Mourinho's behavior; it's absolutely shocking. And then what happened with the referee, Anthony Taylor, at the airport and his family? Look, you know, that's football. It's different. It's the bigger game; it's got more people, alcohol, whatever you know.
Andrew Castle said.

Continuing his train of thoughts, he further added, “Football becomes extremely tribal and I get the emotion. But you cannot have an umpire being abused.”

What caused Anthony Taylor’s altercation with Jose Mourinho?

Italian giants Roma were up against Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League final, and no doubt every final in the world of football is considered a high-stakes matchup. The Italian team took the lead through their main man, Dybala, but fell behind after halftime through an own goal from their own captain, Mancini. This made the match even more livable in the last few minutes, and every decision going against either team made them go mayhem.

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Jose Mourinho not happy with Anthony Taylor’s decisions during the UEFA Europa League final. (credits: Football365)

Interestingly, there were a total of 13 yellow cards shown to the onfield players and many more to the team management. Mourinho played his part as well, quarreling with the referee after his team was denied a clear handball that would lead to a penalty. Mourinho is known for criticizing the referee and getting on their nerves whenever the decisions don’t fall under his control, and Anthony Taylor was yet another victim as he was booed throughout the entire stadium, with his family also being involved in it. 

Anthony Taylor was chased by Mourinho after the match at the Puskas Arena car parking, with videos of him cursing and arguing with the referee going viral. This also ignited the Roma fans to abuse Anthony and his family when they were reaching out to The Budapest Airport.

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