Oh Serena!!

So I have been watching the US open very religiously - much to the chagrin of the people I live with. They know I am gonna come home and commandeer the TV, turn it to tennis. But anyways, after long rain delays, they finally played the much anticipated women's semifinal match between Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams.

Full disclosure: I am a huge Williams sisters fan. I think they play amazing tennis.
I was expecting it to be a tough match but assumed that Serena would prevail - girlfriend had been in top form throughout the tournament.

I was surprised when Kim started to outplay her - Serena was missing easy shots, double faulting all over the place, I was like wassup girlfriend? You could also watch her become increasingly agitated over the course of the match. I think she was just ambushed by the quality of Kim's playing. When she lost the first set via an unforced error, Serena smashed her racket and destroyed it in anger. That however was NOTHING compared to what was to come.

Serena was serving to stay in the game at the end of the 2nd set, she was down 15-30, was putting in the 2nd serve when she was called for a foot fault. She was livid and went ballistic on the official.

See for yourself.


Obviously, she threatened " If I could, I would take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat!"

While I understand her frustration, because there is no way to challenge a foot call, you just have to take the official's word for it, and it appears the call could have been wrong, she still went a little too far in berating the judge, particularly at that level of play. That decision cost her the match, as she was penalized on match point for unsportsmanlike behavior.

Her press conference after the fact:




Now there are rumors that they may force her to forfeit her scheduled doubles match set for Monday as they are "reviewing her conduct" - see here

The drama continues to unfold.
What do I say as a fan? Oh Serena!

Edit to add: She was fined $10,500. And John McEnroe, notorious for his temper back in the day, had this to say:

``I don't know why I'm getting so many calls. Obviously, as I said last night, you cant defend the indefensible. There's no doubt about it: she lost it after getting that foot-fault call.
`At same time, in my opinion, you can't call a foot fault there. Out of the question. It wasn't as if it was an obvious foot fault. At the very least, it was minuscule. I have seen Serena come back from that spot a dozen times before, against top-flight opponents. It wasn't over. It's something you have to live with for the rest of your life.''

In related news, Del Potro beat Nadal today!!

Dang! I was hoping for a Rafa - Fed final!

I still love tennis though!

Ciao.