Williams fined $10,000 for outburst at U.S. Open

Serena Williams yells at a line judge after being called for a foot fault during her semifinal match against Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open on Saturday.
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TENNIS

Williams fined $10,000 for outburst at U.S. Open

Monday 14th September, 12:47 PM JST

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Bogi at 09:06 PM JST - 14th September

No class - whatsoever.

She is supposed to be a professional! How come she gets away with a mere $10,000 dollar fine? That's NOTHING for her.
harmoneeikaiwa at 11:48 PM JST - 14th September

Curious which people hate the Williams. Williams'actions were downright disrespectful,but she was worse than my favorite player Johnny Mac ? Leave the closet, color issues when pretending to be objective,out of it.
lostrune2 at 05:17 AM JST - 15th September

gogogo,

You're calling John McEnroe a celebrity who enters sports? Do you know who John McEnroe is (regardless of what you think of his tantrums)?

And yes, people, rules are "bent" depending on the situation. I play the sports. Nobody calls ticky-tacky fouls at the end of a close basketball game. (Note the keyword ticky-tacky meaning not clear, could go either way.) If it's not a clear foul, the officials just let it go because officials do not like to be the deciding factor of the outcome of a game - they'd rather let the players play and decide the game on the court. If it's a clear foul, call it - if not, just let it go.

And yes, it was a ticky-tacky foot-fault on Serena. It was not a clear foot-fault. It could've gone either way. The lineswoman should had just let it go. Let the players decide it on the court. That's just the way the game is played. Everybody who plays the sports understands that.

But still, what Serena did afterwards was more wrong.
lostrune2 at 05:24 AM JST - 15th September

Same thing with baseball BTW. A questionable hit/questionable error will always be scored an error in the middle of a no-hitter bid. It must be a clean hit to break up a no-hitter.
hoserfella at 08:16 AM JST - 15th September

gogogo- Show me one person who enjoyed watching the match end that way. Not only did that nerd of a line judge miss the call, she in effect made the match about her. Real sportsfans know that umps, refs, et al put the whistle away on borderline calls when important games are on the line.
ebisen at 10:58 AM JST - 15th September

What people fail to see here is that tennis is not boxing or wrestling or football, it is still supposed to be a gentleman/lady's sport. That is, it is not enough to play well, one still has to BEHAVE on the court in order to win.

Pete Sampras was always very polite and accepting decisions without complaining. A long silent look from him at the umpire meant 1000 times more than the screams of a hysteric Williams, and umpires usually got it immediately.
ratpack at 11:07 AM JST - 15th September

You can challenge line calls....why can't you challenge foot faults and head to the big screen with a camera angle of your feet?????
Cicada at 11:35 AM JST - 15th September

The chairman and CEO of the women’s tennis tour, Stacey Allaster, issued a statement calling Williams’ conduct “inappropriate and unprofessional.”

The conduct of the line judge was also inappropriate and unprofessional. That was an unprecedented bad call. Way over the top. No wonder Serena was upset. Looks like the match was fixed. What a disgrace. And now they will divert attention to Serena's tantrum. But they're not fooling everyone with this.
lostrune2 at 04:52 PM JST - 15th September

ratpack,

The Hawk-Eye challenge system only follows the track of the ball, not the track shoes.

Cicada,

There's no fix. Nobody in the sport even credits that.

The Williams sisters are usually known for decorum on the court (off the court, they can be prone to gamesmanship and issues, but on the court, they're well-behaved) - they hardly argue line calls, they hardly even use the Hawk-Eye system, etc. That's why this extraordinary outburst was a surprise to many. Even when the lineswoman was wrong to call a ticky-tacky foot-fault in that situation, 2 wrongs do not make a right.

A substantial fine later on Serena is expected. A ban though is rare for non-betting and non-PED and thus unexpected. Plus kinda counterintuitive: the WTA imposed new rules to require top players to play more tournaments to draw in more crowds, while the Williams sisters already prefer to play less. A ban would just suit Serena's preference and would not be welcomed by tournaments losing one of their main draws.

Anyways, Serena issued another apology, this time particularly to the lineswoman. We'll see how this affects her status as the season winds down.
Cicada at 07:11 PM JST - 15th September

lostrune2

There's no fix. Nobody in the sport even credits that.

Oh, well golly, that is solid proof that the match was not fixed. Maybe the line judge decided on her own to make an outrageous unprecedented horrific call that would put Serena at a big disadvantage and very likely upset her.

Serena issued another apology, this time particularly to the lineswoman.

Wonderful, but the lineswoman owes everyone an apology too, and should publicly urge that Serena not be punished. For, as you say, 2 wrongs do not make a right. Let her admit clearly that she was wrong too.

Looking at the video, we see Serena angrily using profanity. Big deal. Frankly, tennis could use a little more on-court excitement like that. Those judges are too pompous and smug. How pathetic the way the lineswoman ran over to the referee like that, bawling about a temper tantrum directed at her when she well deserved the harsh words.
ebisen at 08:38 AM JST - 16th September

Frankly, tennis could use a little more on-court excitement like that

This did happened many years ago (just look at Ilie Nastase ;) ) - but that guy when he was not The Genius he was The Clown - everybody expected something from him, and I think he launched the "demonstrative, for entertainment only" tennis games. Incidentally, he seldom got punished (more than making him pay fines) for what he was doing but he never behaved with the arrogance shown by Williams here...
Cicada at 08:31 PM JST - 16th September

ebisen:

but he never behaved with the arrogance shown by Williams here...

I did not think she was arrogant at all. The line judge struck me as an arrogant and cowardly too, the way she ran to the referee with her cock and bull story, how supposedly Serena was threatening her.

Sure, Serena was angry, but who wouldn't be after such an extraordinarily "incompetent" call at a crucial point in an important match. Even so, she looked quite cute waving that racket around and clenching the ball.
smithinjapan at 07:59 PM JST - 17th September

Watching replays you can easily see, as was reported in the end, that it was not a foul at all, and a very bad call. All the same, Williams was WAY out of line with some of the comments she made, and isn't there even talk of threats to the linesperson?

I don't usually agree with bobbafett, but I do here. The Williams sisters behave like spoiled brats on a lot of occasions, and give off an air of pompousness that is undeserved.

biglittleman: Aside from what I just mentioned as being reason enough, why do you insist that you MUST like someone because they try hard? Some people just don't like some other people -- or said people just get on said other people's nerves. There is in many cases no rhyme or reason to it, even if there SHOULD be.
biglittleman at 12:35 AM JST - 18th September

@smithinjapan

biglittleman: Aside from what I just mentioned as being reason enough, why do you insist that you MUST like someone because they try hard? Some people just don't like some other people -- or said people just get on said other people's nerves. There is in many cases no rhyme or reason to it, even if there SHOULD be.

No where in any of my writing have I said you must like someone because thy try hard. You are putting words in my mouth. I have raised the question of why would you hate someone because they are trying to be the best at their job. Because the general excuse for most of her opposition is she just too good so I hate her. Same thing with Tiger. The logic doesn't make sense. Because as I have pointed out several times before there are other athletes who dominate like her and makes mistakes like her but don't receive any such criticism. The only difference usually is ethnic background. Which supports my reason there is more too it than meets the eye.

There is always a reason for something. There is no EFFECT without a CAUSE. The tricky part is truly understanding what it is.
Cicada at 11:51 PM JST - 18th September

smithinjapan:

and isn't there even talk of threats to the linesperson?

You're just repeating the nonsense spread by bigoted tennis people who think people like Serena should "know their place". There was no threat whatsoever, and yet that gets repeated over and over.

This is all the more reason to think that the outrageous call was made as a last resort, in order to ensure that Serena could not win.

The line judge was desperately looking for something and she had to resort to this unprecedentedly incompetent call.

Watching replays you can easily see, as was reported in the end, that it was not a foul at all, and a very bad call.

Yes, we can easily see.