Future Tennis Stars

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Serena Williams (R) is disqualified during the Women's Singles Semifinal match against to Kim Clijsters of Belgium on day thirteen of the 2009 U.S. Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 12, 2009 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

That was embarassing.

Of course everyone knows what happened at the end of the Serena Williams-Kim Clijsters semifinal at the US Open last night. For those that didn’t, here’s the recap:

What the video doesn’t show is that Serena was given a warning for breaking her racquet when she lost the first set. The next step is a point penalty which is what Serena got which just happened to come at match point.

All around the internet today people who would be casual fans at best are complaining about how Serena was treated and how rules are unfairly applied to different players. Let’s take a look at what some of the people are saying.

The first complaint is that a foot fault shouldn’t have been called at that point in the match. Really? A foot fault should be called everytime, regardless of whether it’s the first point or the last. Had Serena not been called and hit a serve that clipped the line for an ace or a service winner, would that have not been unfair? Would it not be unfair if Serena had hit a serve that was called good but in fact missed by half an inch wide or long? A foot fault isn’t a judgement call or at least it shouldn’t be one. Venus was called for seven foot faults in her match against Vera Dushevina in the first round. Even Serena said she most likely foot faulted in her post match press conference:

“I’m pretty sure I did,” she said. “If she called a foot fault, she must have seen a foot fault. I mean, she was doing her job. I’m not going to knock her for not doing her job.”

The second compaint is that people say a lot worse to umpires and get away with it. The truth is, they don’t. Players can argue all they want at an umpire and not get a warning. Calling an umpire or line judge blind or stupid isn’t enough for a code violation. Andy Roddick can’t seem to go a single match without arguing with an umpire. John McEnroe is a perfect example of arguing with umpires, as is Jimmy Conners. However, once a player swears at, intimidates, or threatens an official, it’s big trouble. Serena, after calmy getting a ball from a ball boy, went over and swore constantly at the judge and within a few feet of her, was shaking her racquet and ball in her direction. The judge had no decision, and it may not have been her decision as she may have been called over to the chair by the chair umpire, I don’t know, I didn’t see if she was or not. What makes it worse is that Serena didn’t just swear, she screamed it. Sports Illustrated writer SL Price was sitting in the press row, 15 rows up from the court and heard it clearly. Put your hand over your mouth and swear under your breath is one thing, say it loud enough for the fans to hear, and you’re asking for a Code Violation, just as John McEnroe:

Another complaint is that people are confused about Serena getting a Code Violation for breaking her racquet and see players throw their racquets all the time and not get penalized. There is a difference between throwing and breaking. If a player throws their racquet and it cracks or breaks, it’s an automatic Code Violation, you can’t play with the racquet anymore so you get a warning. Serena didn’t throw her racquet, she smashed it. It’s not a judgement call on the behalf of the chair umpire, it’s an automatic rule.

There are other complaints about race or gender. People have said that if Federer or Nadal had acted like that, they wouln’t have been penalized. Roger may have acted like that in his younger days but not now. Sure he smashed his racquet in Miami but never confronted an umpire. Maybe someone else has seen him argue with a judge, I don’t know, I haven’t seen all his matches over his last 6 years, but I would doubt he said anything close to what Serena came up with last night. Same goes for Nadal.

People would love to pin this on the line judge, or on the chair umpire or the tournament officials. When it comes down to it, Serena Williams alone cost herself the match. Her behaviour was inappropriate for a tennis match, of course other sports fans will say they have seen worse in baseball, football or basketball but these are the rules in tennis.

It’s going to get worse for Serena as an investigation is now underway into her actions. Serena said she wouldn’t apologize to the line judge in her post match press conference but I bet she will soon. A heavy fine will be brought against her and had this taken place in a WTA Tour event and not a Grand Slam, a suspension would be almost certain.