Serena Williams berates official, loses match for conduct violation

[redsfandan]

Serena Williams berates official, loses match for conduct violation
By Chris Chase
Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:37 pm EDT

Rain gave way to bedlam tonight at the U.S. Open.

Defending champion Serena Williams was charged with a point penalty on match point after yelling at a line judge for a calling a foot fault on her previous serve. The ruling gave Kim Clijsters a 6-4, 7-5 victory in their semifinal match, which had been delayed 32 hours because of rain.

After the line judge called the foot fault with Serena serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, the youngest Williams sister intimidatingly stared her down before screaming at the official with a jabbed finger. After a few seconds, Serena turned back around to serve, thought better of it and resumed the badgering. The chair umpire then called over the line judge to ask what Serena had said, rules officials were summoned, a brief summit occurred at the net and it was determined that Serena would be assessed a point penalty for a conduct violation. The point gave Clijsters the match.

The initial foot fault that began the fireworks was a terrible call. It was unconscionable. It cannot be made at the end of any match, let alone in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. This isn't because a foot fault is a ridiculous call at that juncture (even though it is). It's because it wasn't a foot fault. The replays show that Serena's foot was behind the line when she served. You could make the argument that it was close but not close enough to make the call.

That being said, that's no excuse for Serena to berate an official. Wrong as the official may have been, there's a line that to be crossed and Serena did it pretty early on in her diatribe by saying, "I'm going to shove this ball down your f------ throat".

It got worse from there. There were multiple profanities, more threats and a lot of pointing. Serena was even defending herself against accusations that she had threatened to kill the lines judge. Even John McEnroe said it was a bit much.

The explosive end is sure to obscure the fact that Serena probably would have lost the match without the foot fault. Clijsters was playing great and Serena couldn't win a point on her second serve. The end was coming, Serena's outburst merely hastened its arrival. Maybe that was the point.

After the match she answered a question about the incident saying "I don't know why she would feel threatened."
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4469048

[GIDP]

Sexy

[Razor Shines]

Were there other angles that they showed? The article says it clearly wasn't a foot fault, but from the angle they showed on SportsCenter I couldn't tell one way or another.

Either way she deserved the point penalty for the way she acted, match point or not.

[Chip R]

When John McEnroe says it's a bit much, you know you've crossed the line. I saw a picture of that line judge when she and Serena were talking to the chair umpire and she looked very frightened.

[Redhook]

Quality entertainment right there.

[Hoosier Red]

Perhaps the line judge was looking at her titles?

[LawFive]

Perhaps the line judge was looking at her titles?

Mark me as the first person who will admit to reading this to say what you meant!

[Roy Tucker]

Couldn't happen to a nice person.

[durl]

I grew up watching McEnroe and, while I thought his tirades were unnecessary, I can't recall him ever threatening a judge physically. Sure, he questioned their integrity and mental capacity, but did he ever threaten to lay a hand on them?

Williams' actions were just too much. I wonder if the USTA might take further disciplinary action.

[Hoosier Red]

I'm curious to hear you say that Roy? Both Williams sister's have been at times indelicate in praising the opposition, but I've never heard anything to make me thing they are mean or hard to get along with.

Read an interesting post on "The Book"
THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball << Back to main

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Why is it that people just can’t tell the truth…
By mgl, 03:15 AM
This a non-baseball (tennis) sports post…

As those of you who follow tennis know, Serena Williams lost her semi-final match to Kim Clijsters when she was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike (or unsportswomanlike, I guess) conduct toward a referee.

Apparently, she said this:

“I swear to God I’m [expletive] going to take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat, you hear that? I swear to God.”

And other expletive-laced comments.

The line judge apparently told the head umpire, “She said that she was going to kill me.”

Now, it doesn’t matter much exactly what Serena said because it was clearly grounds for penalizing her, but why can’t people just tell the truth in a controversy? Even if the line judge doesn’t remember exactly what she said, she knows darn well that Serena didn’t say that she was going to kill her. Just once, I would like to see two sides in a controversy have the same freakin’ story. Seriously, why does everyone have to lie, even when it is not necessary? I can’t stand that.

Do people think that in order to garner maximum sympathy for their position, they have to embellish their story or make things up in order to put the other person in the least favorable light? Is that it? If you think you have a legitimate gripe, which the line judge obviously did in this situation, just say what happened!

[Boston Red]

I think if you shoved a tennis ball down someone's throat they would die.

[Razor Shines]

I'm curious to hear you say that Roy? Both Williams sister's have been at times indelicate in praising the opposition, but I've never heard anything to make me thing they are mean or hard to get along with.

Read an interesting post on "The Book"
THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball << Back to main

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Why is it that people just can’t tell the truth…
By mgl, 03:15 AM
This a non-baseball (tennis) sports post…

As those of you who follow tennis know, Serena Williams lost her semi-final match to Kim Clijsters when she was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike (or unsportswomanlike, I guess) conduct toward a referee.

Apparently, she said this:

“I swear to God I’m [expletive] going to take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat, you hear that? I swear to God.”

And other expletive-laced comments.

The line judge apparently told the head umpire, “She said that she was going to kill me.”

Now, it doesn’t matter much exactly what Serena said because it was clearly grounds for penalizing her, but why can’t people just tell the truth in a controversy? Even if the line judge doesn’t remember exactly what she said, she knows darn well that Serena didn’t say that she was going to kill her. Just once, I would like to see two sides in a controversy have the same freakin’ story. Seriously, why does everyone have to lie, even when it is not necessary? I can’t stand that.

Do people think that in order to garner maximum sympathy for their position, they have to embellish their story or make things up in order to put the other person in the least favorable light? Is that it? If you think you have a legitimate gripe, which the line judge obviously did in this situation, just say what happened!

Problem with calling the Line Judge a liar is we don't know what Serena said when she went back in for a second helping Jack***. We do know that she said:

“I swear to God I’m [expletive] going to take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat, you hear that? I swear to God.”

Is it really that hard to believe she said something about wanting to kill the Line Judge when she went back at her?

[cumberlandreds]

I don't how professional tennis governed but she should be suspended from play for a good long time after that outburst. Anytime you threaten an official like she did you don't deserve to play for a looooong time.

[DTCromer]

Is Serena ever graceful in defeat? Both Williams sisters are sore losers and have always been.

[traderumor]

Hey, at least she didn't make the throat slashing motion. At least she could say she was only using the oral argument technique of hyperbole with the ball stuffing procedure.