Serena goes crazy on lineswoman, eliminated from U.S. Open
Serena Williams is a badass. After dropping the first set to an unseeded Kim Clijsters, Serena slammed her racket into the court, mangling it entirely. Of course, the frustrated action wasn’t unprovoked, as she was playing far below her usual level. In the second set, Serena started to regain her form, until a terrible lineswoman decided to ruin the excitement.
With Williams serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, she faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making it a double-fault. That made the score 15-40, putting Clijsters one point from victory.
Williams went over and shouted at the line judge, who walked over and reported it to the chair umpire. That led to the chair umpire awarding a penalty point to Clijsters, ending the match.
Though it is unclear what exactly Williams said to the linesperson, she was heard on the CBS broadcast telling the linesperson, “I didn’t say I would kill you. Are you serious?” during the discussion with tournament officials that followed.
Williams already had been given a code violation warning when she broke her racket after losing the first set.
What a lame way to end this exciting semifinal. At least Serena was entertaining, ripping into this dolt without restraint. Watching the countless replays on CBS, you can clearly see Serena mouth the words, “I’m going shove this ball down your f–ing throat.” Yowza. That’s my girl.
Needless to say, Kim Clijsters was outplaying Serena before all the mayhem ensued. Clijsters, a former Grand Slam champion, had taken 2 years off to nurse injuries and grieve over the death of her father. Later, she got married and even had a baby. Although her life had changed drastically, Clijsters couldn’t stay away from the game any longer. The U.S. Open is her first Grand Slam since returning and, guess what, she’s in the finals. Good for her.
She’ll face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on Sunday for the championship.
Posted in: Tennis
Tags: 2009 Kim Clijsters, 2009 Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters U.S Open, Serena Williams crazy, Serena Williams curses, Serena Williams curses out, Serena Williams lineswoman, Serena Williams threatens, Serena Williams U.S. Open, Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams yells, U.S. Open Kim Clijsters, U.S. Open Serena Williams
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Why exactly is the lineswoman “terrible” and a “dolt”?
I saw the highlights on SC and we don’t know if Serena did foot fault, so she’s certainly not exonerated by the replay. Then she loses her cool and tells the lineswoman that she is going to shove the f-ng ball down her f-ng throat. Twice. The lineswoman let it go the first time, but got up and told the ref when Serena approached her a second time. At least this is how SC is portraying things…
Then, in the post match press conference, Serena says that she’s never been in a fight in her entire life, so she doesn’t understand why the lineswoman would feel threatened. How is the lineswoman supposed to know that Serena has never been in a fight? Is this common knowledge? This is a completely inane argument.
Bottom line, Serena lost her cool, abused a lineswoman, and deserved to lose that match. I’ve lost a lot of respect for her.
I completely agree with with John. Whether the lineswoman was terrible or not, Serena sealed her own fate by reacting in the most unsportsman like behaviour I’ve witnessed on the tennis court. Looks more like Serena is the dolt by handing over the championship to Kim in such a disgraceful way. Champion material she is not.
I love serena Williams she’s the best.
Look, point is, you can’t make a hazy call like that when the match is on the line. The replays show how, by the millimeter, Serena may or may not have faulted. McEnroe pointed it out: it’s completely unfair to do that with match point coming up. If you’re going to fault somebody when they’re within two points of losing the game, you better be sure. This lineswoman was not. I happen to think that hurts tennis much more than Serena losing her cool. For her verbal abuse, yes, Serena should have been docked a point. She knew what she was doing — that her words could cost her the match. Also, Clijsters outplayed Serena, anyway, but the former Belgium champion didn’t even want to win because of some bogus line call. Serena congratulated Clijsters. She knew she had been outplayed.
Her press conference was stupid. I know that. Still, I don’t necessarily care for the “grace and poise” of tennis champion. “Championship material” is up for speculation. McEnroe displayed this same visceral attitude, cursing out opponents and referees, and people never doubted his credibility as a champion.
And I just want to stress that I do feel Serena’s behavior was very disrespectful. Her press conference after showed a childish side that isn’t going to help her case.
Still, my defense comes amid all this talk of suspension. I don’t think it should happen. Every week, a few baseball players and managers get ejected for saying similar hyperboles and curse words. They get ejected in the same way Serena essentially blew the match. But they don’t get suspended.
I’m just listening to this now — Serena has been fined $10,000 for her actions.
I didn’t realize there were certain calls in tennis that were off limits when match point is coming up. If there are, then someone should have instructed the lineswoman not to make that call at that point in the match.
Only in tennis. Kidddddddingg.
It’s just all very suspect when a foot fault hadn’t been called the entire match. Referees actually have little sway in tennis these days. With the trajectory imaging, the players have a set number of challenges, and they rarely use them up. The imaging is amazing, and the players never argue with its depiction — they also can’t.
Players can’t challenge foot faults. Obviously, the calls aren’t off limits, but when you haven’t made a single foot fault call for two whole sets, it better be obscenely obvious that the player stepped on the line. The match was a single point away from being over. Serena had every right to complain, just not like a maniac.
I know we’re not going to agree on this so there’s no sense in debating. Same reasons why fans boo ticky-tack fouls out of nowhere in the fourth quarter in an NBA game. You said it youself: players just want consistency. Same with tennis players. This was an inconsistent call — one that was made without certainty, and one that was made at an extremely crucial point in the match. That’s why the entire stadium was booing.
Maybe she should have handled it the way her sister did:
Earlier, in the first round, Serena’s sister, Venus, was called for seven foot faults in her first-round match. Her reaction, quite different from her sister’s, was to ask: “Which foot?”
“It threw me off,” Venus said later in her press conference. “After that I just got a little tentative.”
In the end, she had the time to right herself on the way to a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 win.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0913/p02s01-usgn.html
Elaine says:
reacting in the most unsportsman like behaviour I’ve witnessed on the tennis court.
Elaine U must be a “Dolt” or just start watching Tennis yesterday, cause John Mac has done far more worst than what Serena did. She lost her cool, but she is still a Champion, and everyone knows that the media and fans dont really pull for her or her sister. The only time they are in the headlines is when they loose, if they win it’s back page news, al but let them loose, if’s front page news !!!
McEnroe displayed this same visious visceral attitude, cursing out opponents and referees a great many times, and people never doubted his credibility as a champion.
John Paulsen says:
I didn’t realize there were certain calls in tennis that were off limits when match point is coming up
John, on one say the you dont make the call, What was said if yop can read is that…. if you make the call You better be right, and it was a hazy call at best !!!
Give. Me. A. Break.
Serena got herself into this mess. It doesn’t do any good to threaten the lineswoman.
JP is right. Too many F-Bombs from Serena – classless.
That is terrible, why did she do that? I know it might have been a mistake, but com’on…
I just saw the footage again and the crowd really started to boo when Serena continued to go off. They were booing her, not the call (IMO).
Why is Mac always used as a reference in this? Mac, is a shame on tennis based on his behavior on court and people agree on this. True that he is a champion, but his attitudes on court is never used as a good example for tennis players. He has been fined too many times, and even kicked out of a match. And the same goes to Nasty and Jimbo (check the tennis history if you are not familiar with them).
But what Serena did that none ever did before is threatening an official verbally and physically. Mac so far only insulted the officials, not more than that. But saying something like shoving a ball down to one’s throat is an assault. The lineswoman should due Serena for that!
And footfault or not, it is the linesmen/women to decide. They are in a good position to see the foot and the lines. Until now nothing can be concluded from the poor tapes. And as a player, it is the number one rule to obey the rules and the umpires. If you can not, better stop working as a professional tennis player. A gangster will be a good option for I-am-above-the-rules attitude.
Serena should be fined severely and suspended. But I am not sure if USTA or ITF would have guts to do that.