"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."
--Serena Williams attacking a line judge during the verbal assault that got her knocked out of the US Open. The line judge had called a foot fault that set up match point, and the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty cost Serena a point and therefore the match.
(It's not all of what she said, but it's all that was picked up by the microphones before it was drowned out by booing).
over 2 years ago
Ben Rothenberg
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Typical Serena and now the williams will boycott the US OPen like Indian Wells
I’m sorry people if you are Williams sisters fans, but I have known for a long time where this family come from. They are users microphone abusers
Paul D. Kelley
Come as you are not who you pretend to be!
You are only as good as your 2nd serve and 1st volley
by so.cal.native1952 on Sep 12, 2009 11:52 PM EDT reply actions
Nah, I don’t think this will lead to a boycott. Serena didn’t seem too perturbed in her press conference, and there’s no way any player would boycott a grand slam in their home country.
The Daily Forehand -- SB Nation's Tennis Destination.
Broad Street Hockey.
by Ben Rothenberg on Sep 12, 2009 11:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow thats pretty tame compared to what I thought she said. j/k
Yep she shouldn’t of went that far but I can’t say I wouldn’t of. I only really care about the foot fault though I hate that in sports when something like this happens.
Serenas gonna go on a rampage now and run off like 4 majors in the next year and a half.
I hope so. Something like this can make you work harder or break you down, although in the Williams’ case I will bet that she will work harder. There have been an insane amount of foot faults called in this tournament too. Serena mentioned that in the post-match interview that she hasn’t been called on that all year, and now she has been called on multiple ones in that past week.
That’s a good point, hadn’t thought of it that way.
The Daily Forehand -- SB Nation's Tennis Destination.
Broad Street Hockey.
by Ben Rothenberg on Sep 12, 2009 11:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Does Safina stay #1 now or has she already lost that ranking?
The funny thing about baseball is that people will believe what they want to believe. -Joe Posnanski 8/29/09
Safina stays #1
The Daily Forehand -- SB Nation's Tennis Destination.
Broad Street Hockey.
by Ben Rothenberg on Sep 12, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions
The foot fault
I know I’m swimming against the tide here, but I have no problem at all with that foot fault being called.
I get the sense that people are reacting to the foot fault like they are to a foul or penalty call in football/basketball/hockey/etc. In those cases, there is some leeway given to the referee or, at least, the refs take some leeway. In other words, the rule varies a bit from day to day, ref to ref. In those cases, yeah, maybe a ref shouldn’t call a really borderline foul in a crucial moment.
But this is tennis. Either her foot touched the line or it didn’t. Balls are called out if they are out, in if they are in. The only ambiguity is in the possibility that the line judge was wrong. (It would certainly be nice if we had Hawkeye for foot faults.) FWIW, I’ve seen a ton of foot faults both in person and on TV, and I’d guess that line judges are at least as accurate with foot fault calls as they are with line calls.
If she foot faulted, she foot faulted. Doesn’t matter if it’s 40-0 in the opening game or two points away from the end of the close match. Just the same as if she hit a forehand a tenth of an inch long.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Sep 13, 2009 1:06 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Completely agreed. As bizarre as this was, I can’t say anybody did anything wrong.
The Daily Forehand -- SB Nation's Tennis Destination.
Broad Street Hockey.
by Ben Rothenberg on Sep 13, 2009 1:45 AM EDT up reply actions
When I think of those penalties/violations in other sports all of them really I think the same thing. I think they weren’t meant to be called in a situation where it’d overshadow the game/match unless its just obvious/blatant or is a distinct advantage unless you throw the flag or blow the whistle etc.
I still think the second false start rule in track is the most illogical of them all. The first one goes to the entire field, not the guy who actually started first. The second one means whoever went first gets kicked out. Shouldn’t it just be if you false start once, you’re out of the race?
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
That was the most surreal moment in sports I’ve seen this year so far. Even more than that Superbowl ending or M-A Fleury not choking in the SC Finals. Now Clijsters is probably the overwhelming favourite, as an unseeded player who didn’t play for nearly 2 years prior. It’d be even more bizarre if Wozniacki won.
Serena just… she just unravelled in an absolutely spectacular fashion. I’ve never seen a match end like that. Losing on a double fault seems respectable now.
Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.
OK let me take Serena out of the picture
I have been around tennis since 1971 playing and teaching the sport. The one thing that always got me was the people that didn’t play by the rules, or act like did. Foot fault it is one of the first rules you learn and I would say everyone has done it, even Rod Laver call for lining up his heel past baseline T. The thing is refs when you have that many are suppose to call it, when you don’t you are on the honer system.
If you have ever played against a person that overly foot faults and is a serve and volley player you either complain to the player or go get a line judge. On the pro circuit they have judges for everything and maybe too many, as I know a local Futures tourney almost cancelled because of ref expenses. If you want to have a pro futures, I believe you have to have 5 refs and feed and house them the whole tourny.
The funny thing is if they are calling Foot Faults at this level it is usually the roving ump, it is basically to let everybody know in early rounds that you are foot faulting. If you happen to get the semis of final you now have complete line judges, so errors will be accounted for. You should be aware that it isn’t cool to foot fault, take to much time, break rackets, curse, and yell at lines people.
This is not about cheating, but playing and respecting the game of tennis and in my early years I have thrown rackets and curse. The thing is I worked on my faults at my families request and I kicked the habit. Tennis wasn’t designed to be a main sport but a game of the upper class and thats why it can be so different, BUT YOU GOT TO FOLLOW RULES.
Have a great day and yes it was to bad a match had to end this way, but sometime you got to ware waders.
Paul D. Kelley
Come as you are not who you pretend to be!
You are only as good as your 2nd serve and 1st volley
by so.cal.native1952 on Sep 13, 2009 11:35 AM EDT reply actions
I like what you said up until the “but a game of the upper class and that’s why it can be so different”.
I know I probably said it wrong, but when I started tennis the grass roots moment hadn't started and my dad was a milk man.
We didn’t have the money for lessons and Country Clubs, and baseball and Football was the working class sports.
Paul D. Kelley
Come as you are not who you pretend to be!
You are only as good as your 2nd serve and 1st volley
by so.cal.native1952 on Sep 13, 2009 5:13 PM EDT up reply actions
gotcha. I don’t disagree that generally is a sport of the upper class. I just don’t like to think of it restricted to those people, especially internationally.
I think one of the biggest reasons for Spanish and Argentinian success is that they fund the sport at a federal level, lets kids with less $ and more fight/heart/drive come up through the juniors and kick ass in the pros
"I swear to God, I'll take this ******* ball and shove it down your ******* throat" - Serena Williams
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