Serena Can Shove a Ball Down Your Throat?

Let me preface this by saying that traditionally I am not a fan of either of the Williams sisters. Especially Serena. In fact, she makes it very difficult for anyone to get behind her and support her, but her oblivion to public pressure and personal opinions is also what makes her a great champion. Who can forget the over whelming display of courage and determination she showed at just nineteen years of age, when an entire crowd of her own countrymen was actively and very vocally against her in her finals clash against Kim Clijsters at the Indian Wells tournament in 2001. It seems as though in the tennis world, if you are a woman, and your last name is Williams, you are constantly put on the defensive by those in the sport.

So, 2009, US Open women’s semi final match with Serena Williams versus Kim Clijsters, with Clijsters making the comeback of her career. Once again, there is a stadium full of Americans mostly backing the Belgian national. But that’s OK; surely at this point Serena is used to this. Serena is down 30-15 in the second set, on her service game. The first serve is called out, she goes for another and from the side of the court, a lady calls out loud ‘Foot fault!” which brings up double match point for her opponent. It would be presumptuous to say that this call was outright incorrect, but, as instant replays show, it was at least highly controversial. How does Miss Williams react, well, she blows a fuse of course! The result of this, Serena is given a point penalty which effectively hands the match over to Kim Clijsters. (Good job, Kim, by the way). As Serena is once again booed off court by a crowd of her countrymen, the media furiously resumes its task of calling Serena a “brat”, “unsportsmanlike”, “disgraceful”, and “immature”. You know, the usual.

While the punishment meted out by the tournament judge on her behavior was fair and within the rules, the punishment handed out by the media is unjustified, hypocritical and demonstrates the double standards that are applied to women across the sport When John McEnroe and Marat Safin thro.w their rackets around in fits of passion and disdain, the adjectives that are used to describe them are ‘colorful’, ‘passionate’, ‘headstrong’, ‘competitive’.  Even though Andy Roddick consistently confronts and berates umpires and linesmen whenever calls are made against him in matches,  when he steps out on centre court in any US tournament, the occasion is treated as though it were the second coming, and he himself is the Christ incarnate! It's time that these self appointed jurors in the sports media heeded the wise words of the legendery Miss Dolly Parton, that is to; "Listen and Understand. My mistakes are no worse than yours, just because I'm a woman"

People have been known to lose their tempers over such things as trivial as parking spots and express checkouts at the local grocery store. This was a tournament with prize money worth over a million dollars. It wasn’t like they were playing a game of hopscotch in the school playground. Being surprised that Serena reacted the way she did is like being surprised when you turn on the tap and water comes out. Whilst her choice of words was fully inappropriate, the allegations that the lines woman felt threatened are borderline ridiculous. If Serena could have successfully shoved a handful of tennis balls down this woman’s throat in front of a crowd of thousands of people, then we have bigger things to worry about than just her potty mouth and fierce temper.