Sunday, September 13, 2009

Serena Williams


Im not a sports fan in the least , but I do love the drama that can go hand in hand with sports !

Serena Williams managed to let her temper get the better of her and line judge went running to the tournament referee , complete with forlorn looks and pointing ! Williams showing a lack of sportmanship for the second time in this US Open title defence match , made sure that drama ran high after she broke her racket when she lost the first set .

" If I could , I'd take this ball and shove it down your throat !" she bellowed at the line judge in front of a shocked crowd. Nice one Serena , bet you feel a bit stupid today!!

It kind of reminded of the John McEnroe days" You cannot be serious!!"

6 comments:

rosh said...

Yeah it was horrible! I think she just managed to kill any respect she had in the courts. I was there at the Stadium, and everybody could hear her. The words after that first sentence were even WORSE. Oh well...it's not easy being in their shoes, but I'd reckon she is not oblivious the whole world is watching and the least she could do is avoid the most vile words in the American dictionary.

HE said...

Well, I am a sports fan and I will call it like I see it.

Serena was down 6-4 in the first set.

She was down 6-5 in the second set and was serving while down 15-30, two points down from the match point.

Yes, her behaviour was out of line.

But with her serving during a very important part of the match - the linesperson should have let that foot fault go. You just don't call something like that at a crucial part of the match. As a sport official you are always taught to never make yourself a part of the story.

Serena knows the Rules, and like I said, she was out of line. But it is the official that caused the uproar in my opinion.

rosh said...

I agree, the official could have let that pass - it's strange because, Serena hardly ever had foot faults in the several years she's been playing and then in this US Open it's like coming out of nowhere.

Foot faults can be tricky to call and it was very very strange the lines person called a foot fault on a second serve? I mean that's rare eh? Anyway that sort of tirade does not justify even if they stole a match from you.

Subsequently she could have come out and offered an apology, instead offered a bit of an ever self righteous, passion talk.

There's a lot of politics in Tennis the past decade -- it's become super commercialized. I miss the tennis and the players of the 70's 80's and 90's - they bought much charm and character to the sport.

Anonymous said...

Interesting response from 'he' As a life long tennis player of some past ability I am appalled at the thought that the line judge should turn a blind eye to a foot fault even if it was second serve at a crucial point.

I dont think you can play ducks and drakes with the rules. Imagine how Clijsters would have felt if this fault was ignored.

Sure, Serena was bang out of line here. She knows it now and has apologised belatedly.

'Oh for the days of Nastase, Mcenroe, Borg etc. when there was no hawkeye.

As a former champion of the junior long jump once told me, the rules are for everybody.

rosh said...

Anon, I hear you - and you're very correct in what you say. However, it's hard to call out a foot fault given it's probably just millimeters in distance and less than a second - between the foot landing on the court and the player striking the ball -- especially when someone has almost never foot faulted in a decade long career. A foot fault is taboo in tennis, I think. As a life long tennis player, I've never been foot faulted and I've played at professional levels. I was rather taken back, the lines person called a second serve as foot fault on Serena. To me, it felt almost surreal within - I wouldn't have felt that way if it was Stefan Edberg. Maybe Serena did fault -- the cameras couldn't get a second view to make a clear call either..it was strange.

Let's not forget her semifinal with Jen back in '04. Serena was robbed off that match and the US open officials apologized subsequently...OK..feel like I'm rationalizing..

Anyway, the whole episode was terrible. Fans sitting court side were shocked. I was in an Amex corporate box and we could hear all that she said and then some -- especially the latter part. Sad.

SHE said...

Rules are rules though , right? I've been accused of seeing things in black and white exclusively before ( part of the reason why members of my profession are allegedly exempt from jury duty in the states ).

Second serve in an important point in the match or not - as anon correctly stated "the rules are for everybody! "

Serena should have exercised caution on this front and made sure she didn't make such a blatant mistake in the first place- it is , after all , the basic rules of tennis!

Lucky you that you were there Rosh !!I wouldn't have minded being courtside for that little piece of drama !!