How’d She Get That First Code of Conduct Penalty?
By attacking her racquet.
Did You Know Part 1:
Clijsters is the only player to beat both Williams sisters in the same tournament more than once. Others who beat them in the same tournament include Davenport, Hingis, Graf, Sanchez-Victario and Henin. Henin was the last player to beat them in the same tournament, en route to the 2007 US Open title.
Did You Know Part 2:
That another women’s semi was played tonight? I feel really bad for not saying anything about Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and Caroline Wozniaki of Denmark. Wickmayer Wozniaki Wickmayer Wozniaki Wickmayer Wozniaki Wickmayer Wozniaki. Done. (Caroline Wozniaki won.)
Reaction Very Negative
I’m beginning to think perhaps the Sunday reaction to Serena’s outburst may be less “controversial” and more universally condemned. The Associated Press is now reporting that Serena said “If I could I would take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat and kill you!” Reports also have her saying, “I swear to God I’ll fucking take this ball and shove it down your fucking throat! Do you hear me? I swear to God. You better be glad–you better be fucking glad that I’m not, I swear.”
If that’s what’s being reported, then it’s likely we’re going to get a cleaned up audio version that proves that’s what she said. The crowd reaction was pretty strongly negative. It’s because they indeed heard Serena say these things. When you watch the replay of Serena yelling, look at the faces of the people in the front row. One woman – who looks a lot like Arthur Ashe’s widow – just turned her head in revulsion and said something along the lines of “Oh Serena, no.”
The most disappointing thing I’ve read so far is Tom Perrotta‘s column at Tennis Magazine. Everything he wrote here is wrong:
Williams looked stunned by the accusation and those words were not audible in replays I watched. Was she angry? You bet. Was she threatening? That’s a loaded word, and one that needs to be used carefully. Does anyone really believe that Williams would actually shove a ball down a lineswoman’s throat? I don’t. I can understand how the woman was a bit nervous at the time, and certainly embarrassed. But threatened? Sorry, I can’t see it. This was still a tennis match, not a heavyweight fight. Not long after the incident, Williams was giggling with her sister outside the women’s locker room, and she was composed and funny in her press conference.
Is Perrotta trying to protect his journalist access to the Williams family? Serena wouldn’t actually shove the balls down the linesperson’s throat – like that even matters. Are we supposed to judge player conduct by the likelihood of the player following through on the threat? (“McEnroe wouldn’t really just go fuck your mother, she’s not even alive!”) Serena handled her presser well in parts (her full credit to Kim espeically), but the rest of it was haughty. And her yukking it up with Venus doesn’t necessarily reflect well on her. That’s a defense mechanism, not something to recommend her temper.
Ravi Ubha live-blogging for ESPN said “Serena’s behavior in the presser seemed to indicate, in my opinion, that she knew she did wrong. She didn’t walk in irritated or angry that she received a point penalty.”
Reaction from The Tennis Channel was much more astute and on point than the mess over on CBS.
Lindsay Davenport: said she was “most sad for Kim. If you’re Serena, you know you can’t talk to anyone on the court like that. I knew as soon as the linesman went to say something to the umpire that she was going to be defaulted.” Davenport also said that as a former player, she was “stunned she went after the linesman at that stage of the match because you’re that close to losing the match, you have to keep focus. You can’t lose your temper. You’re supposed to go to the umpire and never approach the linesperson, we all know that.”
Martina: “Serena has some real soul searching to do… Kim played the better match. It shows in the stats, it showed on the court and it showed on the results. Serena was emotionally out of control all match. When Serena smashed her racquet to smithereens after the first set, you heard us [Marina and Connors] say she’d better watch it, because next will be a point penalty.”
“At first I though she was going to keep it together.. she got the balls from the lineswoman and got ready to serve, then she lost it.”
Jimmy Connors: “This isn’t how you want the match to end and even if you still would’ve won anyway, it’s just a different feeling. You can just see what this is like for Kim, from just the way she’s slumped over and staring into space. As a competitor you want that moment, where you can say ‘I beat you, I finished you.'”
And speaking from experience, Jimbo said about the crowd reax: “When you start shaking your racquet, they’re paying more attention, the crowd wants to be involved and they were kind of in shock at what she said… the crowd wanted to see more tennis and for Kim to show some excitement getting through to the final.”
Martina gets the last word: On where Serena goes from here: “Serena will want to reassert herself. She will not be number 1 after this and she will want to be number 1. Once the transcript comes out of what she said she’ll need to show some contrition — because she didn’t really own up to anything that she said. You won’t see her breaking a racquet any time soon.”
“If Kim wins tomorrow there won’t be an asterisk behind her name. Thankfully the default happened in the semis not the final.”
Passing Shots 
Posted on September 13, 2009
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