No matter the sport, the man or woman tasked with enforcing the rules is never meant to be the one who ends up in the spotlight at the close of play.

But with tensions running high and top-level competition so often decided by the finest of margins, it is inevitable that referees and other officials make their fair share of headlines.

One man used to the limelight is tennis umpire Carlos Ramos, whose row with Serena Williams during the US Open final is the latest of his clashes with some of the biggest names in the game.

Image: Carlos Ramos clashed with Serena Williams during the US Open final

During the French Open in 2016, Ramos courted the rage of the other Williams sister, Venus, after accusing her of communicating with her coach during a three-set victory over Alize Cornet (who you may recognise as the player recently handed a code violation at the US Open for briefly exposing her sports bra on court).

The older Williams sister refuted the call, telling Ramos: "I'm 36 years old. I play fair."


Venus wasn't having it from the chair umpire in the midst of her 6-0 3rd-set demolition of Cornet. #RG16 @NBCSports pic.twitter.com/0dpEqwyjeD — Jonathan Scott (@jonscott9) May 30, 2016

At the same tournament, Nick Kyrgios launched a foul-mouthed rant against Ramos after he was issued a code violation for shouting at a ball boy to pass him a towel.

Kyrgios - who is no stranger to controversy - accused the umpire of "unbelievable bias" regarding the ruling, insisting that he had only raised his voice so he could be heard above the crowd.

He described the call as "f***ing bulls**t" and told Ramos: "A code violation for saying 'towel' loud? Now I've really seen it all. What rules am I breaking?"

Image: Andy Murray has found himself in Ramos's bad books

Andy Murray was handed a code violation by Ramos at the 2016 Olympics in Rio for what the Portuguese believed to be an insult hurled in his direction.

On his way to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals, Murray was penalised after Ramos alleged he had called him a "stupid umpire".

During a subsequent changeover, 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."

Image: Rafael Nadal took umbrage with Ramos at Roland Garros

Ramos found himself in the cross-hair of Rafael Nadal at the 2017 French Open, with the Spaniard unhappy with a decision to strip him of a serve for taking too long between points.

He was called up on it during the first and third set of his fourth-round win over Roberto Baugista Agut - and the second instance saw him forced to go straight to his second serve.

Like Serena Williams, Nadal told Ramos he would "never chair another of his matches again".

After the match, which Nadal won 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, he added: "Theoretically the umpires are here to analyse the match and they are not here to use the stopwatch, otherwise we should have a stopwatch on the court. That's the whole point."

Image: Novak Djokovic was punished for throwing his racquet at Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic was given an official warning by Ramos at Wimbledon this year for throwing his racquet to the ground during a four-set quarter-final win over Kei Nishikori.

The Serb was unhappy with the call and questioned why his opponent had not also been warned for the same offence later in the match.

He told reporters afterwards: "I thought it was unnecessary to get a warning. I thought I didn't harm the grass.

"I know how I threw the racket. Nishikori even threw the racket in the fourth set. The umpire said he didn't see it. It's not fair but it's the way it is. In the midst of emotions in a tough match, it happens."