Serena's Unexcusable Behavior

After all the rain delays, I barely caught the end of the Williams - Clijsters semifinal match last night, but all the action happened in the last moments.

Clijsters won the first set 6-4, and Serena smashed a racquet in response. For this display of emotions she receieved a warning. While unruly, I've seen many players smash a racquet in exasperation at their level of play. It's 6-5 in the second set and Williams is serving, down 15-40, a match point for Clijsters. As she serves, the line judge calls a foot fault. And WOW... her angry reaction was a display I was embarrassed to watch. She stopped play and started yelling at the line judge and pointing at her with her racquet. This tirade that went on for at least 20-30 seconds. Live coverage bleeped out the language, but the body language said it all. She couldn't stop there, she went back to the line to serve, and then headed right back to the line judge, yelling more obscenities. At this point the chair asked the line judge to approach and when she was told what had transpired, the head judge stepped out onto the court and gave Williams a point violation, which lost Serena the match.

I am so disgusted at this I don't even know how to put it into words. She was an embarrassment to herself and her country.

I have seen many tennis players exasperated and pushed to anger over bad line calls, but a true champion reaches deep down and rises above the anger to continue on with the match. Even Johnny Mac, known for his angry displays on the court, NEVER acted out like this.

What's worse, it ruined a great moment for Kim Clijsters, who won the match, and would have won the match regardless. She stood on the opposite end of the court with a look of confusion as Williams came to shake her hand after her fit was over. The crowd was awed into silence, no one knew how to react. I feel for Clijsters who was unable to enjoy a victory she deserved because of poor sportsmanship on Williams' part. She has made an amazing comeback at this major, and this moment should have been elation for her, her family and the crowd who has gotten to watch her win her way through to the final. She was robbed and it makes me mad! The look on her face and the faces of her friends and family was confusion and irritation, and I can't get those images out of my head. Still on the court after the match was over, Clijsters was asked what she thought, and she was speechless. She was in her own head for the last point, preparing for a match point and didn't even really see what transpired until it was already over. She was stunned and quiet, unable to respond.

Serena headed straight to the press room after the match to answer questions, but she never answered the question at hand... what the hell happened out there? When asked what caused the outburst her response was "I am a very intense player, like my idols John McEnroe and Martina..." What an insult to Johnny Mac and Martina! She was asked what she said to the line judge and her response was "I don't think it's necessary to repeat that, I've moved on..." TOTAL cop-out on her part. She couldn't even man up and take responsibility for her actions, much less give an apology to Clijsters for her awful display.

Disappointed may be an understatement, she is supposed to be champion, and she acted like an ass.

As she left the court, the crowd booed, and it was well deserved. It's true, the line judge made a bad call, but that's no excuse for Serena's actions. I mean come on, this isn't the first bad call made by a line judge at a tennis match. This is definitely the worst display of bad sportsmanship I have ever been embarrassed enough to witness.

Shame on you Serena! Until you take responsibility for your outburst and apologize to those who witnessed it, I have no respect for you AT ALL.