So, I watched the US Open along with millions of other people, and saw Serena Williams totally lose it at the lineswoman. Here are my thoughts about the whole thing:
In her defense, she didn’t foot fault, according to the replays, and it did seem just unbelievable that she was called for so many foot faults out of the blue, on crucial points in only this tournament. Frankly I think those are bogus calls, that linespeople do at their whim. In fact, if you were to really examine players, I think you’d find that a lot of them foot fault all the time! And yet, Serena goes the entire year without a single foot fault call, and all of a sudden, here at this tournament, she gets called on multiple faults? Come on…
Now, granted, that’s no excuse for cussing out the linespeople, but, I mean, there are two sides to it. First, look at John McEnroe, or Jimmy Connors. They were hardly ever penalized for abuse of linespeople and referees. Sure, they may not have used the “F” word, but honestly, is it any different? Telling someone they are stupid and have no brain, is that really better than saying ‘f you’? Come on. If you are going to penalize for “unsportsmanlike conduct”, then do it consistently. CBS showed a little montage yesterday of the “fits” thrown by players this tournament, throwing and breaking rackets all over the place… and not a single one of them was given a point penalty, except Serena. And on match point? I mean, come on! That’s ridiculous, completely and totally ridiculous. Sure, technically it is appropriate, but again, if you do it for one, do it for all.
Serena was given that penalty point, lost the match, and then got fined 500 dollars for throwing her racket earlier in that match, and the maximum fine of 10,000 for abuse of the linesperson. That’s the “punishment”. Today during the Roger match they were discussing that, and Mary (Carillo) thought it was just ridiculous not to suspend her for at least a few months, that the fine was a joke (she’s only earned 26+ million dollars, you think 10k matters to Serena?), that not taking a stronger action against her was tainting the sport, basically saying that the kind of disgraceful behavior she showed doesn’t matter, you just get a slap on the wrist. And that in any other sport, the person would be given a much harsher punishment.
Should she have been suspended from the double’s match (which she and Venus ended up winning)? Honestly, telling someone, anyone, you’d like to shove a tennis ball down their “F-ing” throat… that’s a bit extreme, even if you are in the heat of the moment. Serena is not new to these situations, is not new to bad line calls, and certainly by now understands the repercussions of her on-court actions, she’s had enough controversy in the past to have learned what can, and will, happen if you lose your temper in front of the cameras. And yet, that’s out there now, for all to see. It will live on YouTube for years to come, she’ll never live it down. Is that punishment enough? Should she have been suspended? The US Open tournament referee Brian Earley stated that the US Open could only impose the fine based on the event, not on anything else. It would be up to a Grand Slam Committee administrator to decide if the conduct warranted a more severe penalty. So, she was allowed to play, because the Grand Slam Committee didn’t intervene before that Double’s Final match.
Now, I agree the fine is a joke, but I just have to bring it back that if the USTA is going to try to enforce harsher penalties, then they must be done equally. If someone throws a racket, every single time should be a code violation. I mean, come on, how many times did we see people throwing rackets? I personally can think of at least 10 during the US Open, and obviously I didn’t see all the matches. But did any of those, ANY, but Serena, get a code violation? Nope. That’s the problem. If you’re going to penalize, do it fairly, and not what to me, seems to be exceptionally biased.
This event overshadowed the big accomplishment Serena and Venus did in winning the double’s title.
And in a way, it is very sad, because even during the post-match trophy presentation, all the interviewer wanted to know about is Serena’s apology, actions, reasons, etc., blah blah blah… which was a real insult to Venus. She and Serena, no matter what you may think, beat the number one double’s team out there, and deserved the trophy, and they deserved to have the chance to thank their team, their family, and voice their thoughts like every other winner had. Yet, they didn’t get that chance, because all the guy wanted to do is ask about “the tantrum”. That was just poor reporting. The same thing happened in their post-match news conference if you read the transcript. Sad.
So, Serena will have to live with this forever, and Venus will walk away with the trophy, but with mostly sour memories because of how the media handled her sister’s event. When she should have been celebrating and been given respect in the media for the championship, it was all overshadowed by the press basically not caring at all that Venus, who was playing injured, overcame it all and won that major title.
Moral of the rant I guess is that I really dislike how the media handles things like this. It is pitiful.
