They say hell hath a fury like a woman scorned; well hell hasn’t been introduced to Serena Williams. In a match of firsts, the three time Grand Slam Champion, lost her cool while battling unranked, unseeded Kim Clijsters (6-4, 7-5) in a high strung semi-final with elimination from the U.S. Open Finals on the line when she was called for a ‘foot fault’ resulting in the loss of a crucial match point. According to a line judge, Williams faulted on her first serve and shortly thereafter her second serve, the judge called a ‘foot fault’ making the penalty a ‘double fault.’ The rare call brought the score to 15-40 and Kim Clijsters one point away from victory.

Serena obviously upset by the ruling, gave new meaning to the words, angry black woman and in preparation for her appearance in Tyler Perry’s ‘Diary of A Mad Black Woman, Part 2,’ unleashed several choice words in the form of “f-bombs” as she so “politely” told the line judge that she was gonna “take this f***ing ball and shove it down her f***ing throat. Is Compton in the house? It seems Serena isn’t afraid to reach back to her roots growing up in one of the most violence infested neighborhoods in America. The tennis superstar then proceeded to tell the line judge, “Sorry, but there are a lot of people who’ve said way worse.” As the saying goes, you can take the diva out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out the diva.

This isn’t the first occurrence of a code violation for the younger half of the championship winning, Williams’ sisters. Serena had already been handed down a code violation warning for breaking her tennis racket after losing the first set earlier in the tournament. The more dominating of the Williams’ sisters has been undoubtedly been accustomed to winning given that her record for U.S. Open tournaments was 3 out of 4 wins and 30 out of 31 tournament wins so the blatantly ridiculous err later proven wrong by replays of a lines woman seemingly bent on handing Clijsters the match on a silver platter would make any competitive tennis player worth her power serve furious. It’s not that Serena Williams lost her cool that makes her loss sad or even her reprehensible unsportsmanlike conduct for yelling obscenities that were used as weapon against her in the heat of the moment. Everyone loses their temper from time to time and other tennis stars certainly have vocally questioned calls. Andre Agassi has done it, so has Jim Connors and John McEnroe. The aforementioned players were also not an African American woman in a traditionally sexist world of professional tennis. It’s the fact that although the woman was clearly wrong, the tennis diva renown for her strong disdain for losing is also recognized for her sportsmanship.

The dominance of professional tennis by one or both of the Williams’ sisters from the U.S. Open to Wimbledon has seemingly harvested all sorts of tactics by judges and the media alike to tarnish the image and reputation of the teenage girls that first broke on the scene hair adorned with braids and beads approximately 10 years ago. Serena brandished the gun, loaded it and pulled the trigger, yet later pulled a LeBron James and was totally unapologetic for it. She got herself disqualified.

“I didn’t threaten [her]. I don’t remember anymore [what I said], to be honest. I was in the moment. And, you know, everyone’s fighting for every point. It was a really crucial point,” Williams commented. When questioned whether she planned on apologizing to the line judge who administered the awful call, Williams added: “An apology? From me? Well, how many people yell at lines people? Players, athletes get frustrated. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen that happen.
All year I’ve never been foot faulted, and then suddenly in this tournament they keep calling foot faults. I said something that I guess they gave me a point penalty for. Unfortunately it was on match point.”

It is arguable that had the fault not been awarded, that Serena Williams would have even won. Both women pounded the pavement hard! Vollying the ball back and forth with the strength and tenacity one comes to expect in the U.S. Open. Clijsters had already put Venus out of the tournament a few matches prior and literally had Serena on the net throughout most of their match up with well executed groundstrokes, breaking the powerhouse’s vaunted serve four times. A win would have returned Serena to the coveted #1 in the world slot in women’s professional tennis and a shot at her fifth U.S. Open title. Perhaps if Serena had “kept her cool” as her mother Oracene Williams’ said, she would have lost the battle but not the war. She’s launched successful comeback wins before.

Congratulating your stunned opponent on her default win, may demonstrate an ounce of graciousness but an apology after threatening to do bodily harm to a power hungry judge holding the weight of the game’s outcome in the palm of her hand would have went a longer way if not all the way to an U.S. Open title.

**Update** The U.S. Open has launched an investigation into Serena Williams’ outburst on Saturday. If suspended, Williams may lose a chance to win the doubles title Monday where she and Venus currently are slated to play as finalists.

Sources: (ESPN, NY Daily News)

View More Articles By Qiana M, Click The Banner Below