Two times she has been penalized a point for "getting coaching" and she has gone full McEnroe on this chair umpire. Down 1 set at 3-2 in the second set against Osaka in the finals.
Anybody watching Serena go off?!
- Thread starter Custerdome
- Start date
Got a game penalty for another argument. Just lost. Feel really bad for the girl who won. Seemed to dominate the match but all anyone will remember is how Serena lost a point and a game.
Serena thinks she can do no wrong. Deserved to lose. Maybe time to retire?
Her coach just said it was the first time he was ever called for it. Chrissy and Pam said it is the first time they can ever recall that this was called on a player. Highway robbery. Yes, she might have lost to this Osaka kid anyway, but we'll never know because her train of thought was destroyed after the second call.
It was pretty bogus...she still lost, but you don’t make that call in the finals of a major tournament.
Just don't follow tennis closely enough but Chrissie just said all the coaches coach. Wonder why coaches CAN'T coach? Is that the rule in other individual sports, like golf?
It was absolutely a ridiculous call that should disqualify him from every working a grandslam tournament again. I don't know if he has a grudge against Williams but he not only owes her an apology but he owes one to Osaka and all the fans watching. To interject himself into the game like that, who does he think he is? Honig? A MLB ump?
I agree...he should be gone and Serena should use her pull to get him gone. What was he doing engaging with her during a match anyway?
Apparently the last person Serena played had her coach down court side coaching her throughout the match. Seems like the call was some kind of personal thing.
O'Neill? Witvoet? I mean who does he think he is?
The only old boys network worse than the Big 10 is professional tennis.
yes, in golf only help allowed is from caddie unless its a team event like ryder cup then you can get assistance from your playing partner in four ball or foursomes
Very borderline in my mind. Serena showed her true colors today. Showed sportsmanship after the match but what about during the match?!
Retire because she lost in the US Open finals?
The better player won today with or without a controversy. The ref allowed himself to become a factor in the match which is unfortunate.while Serena lost it on the court, I give her credit for hanging around and saving the awards ceremony.
Not even in the ballpark as McEnroe and Connors, but I don’t recall them ever getting penalized a game.
The warning for coaching was bad but when he penalized her a game for arguing was unbelievable. And she is right, the male players have gotten away with far worse.
The only penalty that was justified was when she smashed her racquet. Serena probably would have lost anyway but it shouldn’t have been like that.
It hurts the sport to see that happen especially in the final against the sport’s biggest star.
The only penalty that was justified was when she smashed her racquet. Serena probably would have lost anyway but it shouldn’t have been like that.
It hurts the sport to see that happen especially in the final against the sport’s biggest star.
Why does it matter if she’s the biggest star. Would that excuse ped use?
It matters to the fans. I’m not saying she should get calls because of who she is, but in that situation, the finals, the ump shouldn’t be so quick with the penalties on either player.
Yes you do. you don't think they knew about this before the finals and determined to watch it?
LdN
She lost me when she 'demanded' an apology repeatedly...comes across as spoiled.
I won't dispute that it was the wrong call, but I've never understood the notion that a sport should be officiated differently during the playoffs, tournaments, etc. On the contrary, it should be consistent no matter how big or small the event.
My mistake, then. I thought your point was that the magnitude of the event should be a factor in the officiating.
The timing of her 'wigging out' is fortuitous given her feature in the Colon Kaspernack/Nike ad. "Just do it!"
Saw the highlight and the breakdown that the 4-letter network did this morning. Why does the umpire have eagle eyes and trying to ascertain if Serena can 'receive coaching' from someone sitting (not standing) 100 yards away. Players look to their boxes all the time. Millman did it after every damn point against Federer. What if they had some sort of facial signal exchange? No need to read into anything and just call the match as it is. As a result, Serena gets mad, her focus is gone, and she let it snowball into worse. That's where I'd most find fault with Serena, for letting her anger about the call get the best of her. She shouldn't have smashed her racquet in the open court like she did and she deserved that penalty. Calling the chair umpire a 'thief'? Well, I think plenty of men have dropped f-bombs toward officials with no consequences. As Billie Jean King tweeted afterwards, why is it a woman is 'hysterical' but a man is 'outspoken' when they have outbursts like that?
Now, for those of you who want to allege steroids and/or PED usage or want to equate it to the Nike ad, you probably should take a closer look at yourselves. Or do you feel so proud of yourself that you can level these allegations because you think it's funny?
Now, for those of you who want to allege steroids and/or PED usage or want to equate it to the Nike ad, you probably should take a closer look at yourselves. Or do you feel so proud of yourself that you can level these allegations because you think it's funny?
No. Did you listen to what she had to say after the match?
I have some strong feelings about this and need to chime in.
By way of background, I have played competitive tennis since I was a kid. My over 40 USTA team is playing in the Sectional championship (one step from National Championship) next weekend. I probably know more about this than most casual fans.
First, you have to understand the warning/penalty structure (many fans do not). The system goes: warning, point penalty, game penalty, match penalty (i.e. foreit). The latter is VERY rate but if does happen (see Jeff Tarango, Wimbledon 1995, MacEnroe at the Aussie Open, etc).
As a player, if you know that you’ve gotten a warning, you HAVE to walk on eggshells. Maybe you give the chair a piece of your mind if you think it will somehow help you later (although these days with replay, the chair is generally less important, so this is a poor strategy). But on this stage you cannot do anything dumb.
Serena got the first violation (a warning, with no penalty) for coaching. This rule needs to be re-examined, but as written, players cannot receive any coaching (including hand signals) during a match. (an aside: my opinion is that players should be able to receive coaching between sets, but coaches should be off court (watching on TV) during the match). It is widely known that coaches signal players during matches and usually nothing is done. Her coach admitted to coaching her, meaning that as the rule is written, the first violation (warning) was legit. I have no idea why the chair decided to issue a warning for this (maybe the hand signals were particularly egregious; maybe this is a pet peeve of his; I don’t know). BUT (and this is a big BUT), his issuing this warning had ZERO impact on the match. There was no penalty associated with this warning.
Serena seemed to come somewhat unhinged after this because she was accused of cheating. Her coach admitted to cheating, so I really don’t know why she was so offended by this. It’s obviously not plausible that she has not idea her coach is giving her signals. So she’s full of crap with the whole “I’d rather lose than cheat” bit.
But again, this warning had ZERO impact on the match.
At this point, she had to realize that she had to be on her best behavior because her next violation would result in a point penalty. She smashed a racket. Perhaps if she hadn’t already gotten a violation, or perhaps if this was an early round match, maybe she gets away with that. But from the chair umpires perspective, this is disrespectful to him. She should know she’s on this ice and she smashed a racket. So she SHOULD have seen that violation coming, which resulted in a point penalty.
Realistically, that point penalty probably had very little impact on the match. But she wouldn’t let it go and decided it would be a good idea to verbally harass the chair on the next changeover. Why? After you get a point penalty, you have to realize that the ref is not kidding around (right or wrong) and you need to basically ignore him/her for the rest of the match. You need to be on your best behavior. She was ranting about being owed an apology and wouldn’t let it drop.
The baseball equivalent of this is not letting a bad call go and keep talking to the umpire. Even if you don’t swear at him, eventually, if you keep running your mouth you will get tossed. Can you imagine repeatedly telling the home plate umpire that they owe you an apology and not getting tossed? She wouldn’t shut up and (IMHO) didn’t give the chair much option. It was stupid of her to engage him at that time (after two violations).
Some have speculated that Serena didn’t know that the coaching violation was a warning that counted toward a point penalty. If she didn’t, that’s really, really ignorant. But even if she didn’t, as soon as she got the racket abuse point penalty, she knew it. So she needed to STFU at that point. She didn’t. Which means she someone thinks she is bigger than the game. She’s not and the chair put her in her place.
I used to like Serena early in her career. I like her less and less as time goes on. She has had multiple outbursts at the US Open alone (foot fault issue, hindrance issue and this one), for which she was in the wrong in all of them, but somehow tries to make herself the victim. She made things orders of magnitude worse in this instance by trying to make this a gender/sexism issue. She also tried to play the “mom” card by invoking her daughter while arguing with the chair. The issue was she tried to show up the chair and it failed.
She’s an uber talented player, but her ego gets in the way. This was 100% preventable by her. All she has to do is shut her mouth. Although I believe that she loses anyway. Osaka played really, really well. If you want to feel bad for anyone, feel bad for Osaka. Her amazing win is tarnished by Serena’s nonsense.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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This is really good insight (fellow tennis player here) but nearly every professional tennis player/authority/broadcaster I follow on social media disagrees with you.
I’d add that what Serena has done since having her daughter is pretty remarkable. She does need to learn to keep quiet, and I agree she probably loses the match anyway, but this chair is a clown.
I heard that Billie Jean King quote today. I may have missed it, but I haven’t heard or seen anybody refer to Serena as hysterical in this situation. On the other hand, I never heard men that have launched on a tennis judge referred to as outspoken. Wasn’t McEnroe referred to as “The Brat” during his career? Seems like King was a bit off on this one.
Serena has a history of whining and trying to throw her weight around when she does not get her way. She plays the victim/mom/woman card like a pro. She is an entitled brat who thinks she sets the rules and whatever she says is gospel. She should take her steroid fueled body and retire with her millions. Good riddance.
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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
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Yeah! So happy the French Open is changing their dress code because she wore something they didn’t like this year too! Uppity, entitled whiner! She thinks she’s great because she has a paltry 23 Grand Slam titles. Pfft!
I agree Serena was wrong to smash her racquet after getting that warning but the chair ump could have handled it better as well.
He shouldn’t have been so quick to give her a warning on coaching. And after she smashed her racquet and she freaked out over the point penalty he should have shown more restraint. He should have warned her to stop or he was going to penalize her a game.
And Serena does have a point, I’ve seen male players get away with much worse.
I’ve seen Federer verbally berate and curse out umps and not get penalized.
Although she didn’t swear, she did continue for too long but again he should have warned her before penalizing her a critical game.
Umps in all sports need to remember, people aren’t there to watch them, they are there to watch the players.
A little more restraint by the ump and this would have never have happened and Serena would have lost and that would have been the end of it.
And it’s too bad because the outcome hurt both players and the tournament itself.
As for Serena, she does have a bit of a temper and an ego but that isn’t unusual for top tennis players.
But it is usually the male players who are more prone to these outbursts.
I don't follow tennis much but a player causing a scene when losing is often a tactic to a) rattle the other player and get her off of her game and b) something to blame the loss on.
Serena has been the face of women's pro tennis for two decades. I believe she won the French Open in 2002. She has won 23 majors including SIX US Opens. How is it possible that this guy never chaired one of her events; or even a previous US Open?
I think this escalated because one of the best players of all time is being faced with the end of her career and she is having a tough time dealing with it. Yet, the guy could have handled it better, but it started off as a very minor rebuke and turned into a nuclear event because she couldn't let it go.
It happens, getting older sucks.
Serena has been the face of women's pro tennis for two decades. I believe she won the French Open in 2002. She has won 23 majors including SIX US Opens. How is it possible that this guy never chaired one of her events; or even a previous US Open?
I think this escalated because one of the best players of all time is being faced with the end of her career and she is having a tough time dealing with it. Yet, the guy could have handled it better, but it started off as a very minor rebuke and turned into a nuclear event because she couldn't let it go.
It happens, getting older sucks.
If we just had ONE man who could make a grand slam final, this whole Serena thing wouldn't be such a big deal. Andy Roddick, 2009. Basically it will be 10 years since an American man has made a grand slam final.
Some of that is the historical greatness of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro, and a few others, but some of that is that we no longer can develop American men singles players in our tennis system.
Cue the whole thing about how our athletes all choose different sports if you like, but how does that explain Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Mal Washington, Michael Chang, Andre Agassi, and Andy Roddick? Football and Baseball and Basketball were more popular than tennis then, too.
Isner, bless his heart, has done all he can humanly do and given it his all, but he's Tim Henman. We need an Andy Murray to replace his Tim Henman.
Some of that is the historical greatness of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro, and a few others, but some of that is that we no longer can develop American men singles players in our tennis system.
Cue the whole thing about how our athletes all choose different sports if you like, but how does that explain Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Mal Washington, Michael Chang, Andre Agassi, and Andy Roddick? Football and Baseball and Basketball were more popular than tennis then, too.
Isner, bless his heart, has done all he can humanly do and given it his all, but he's Tim Henman. We need an Andy Murray to replace his Tim Henman.
I think people who feel it’s okay to yell at refs, get in their face, scream at them like a 3yr-old, throw things at them, wait at their car after the game, knowingly break the rules then complain to the ref’s face about it, should try officiating a sporting event sometime. I officiate in my area and we are losing officials at a pretty quick rate. Keep yelling, and when refs quit there won’t be many games left.
I felt she overreacted and went way too far. She was frustrated and angry because she was getting beat by a better conditioned, younger and faster tennis player. The news cycle has said very little to nothing of the winner Naomi Osaka, who deserved better. This young lady was robbed of the biggest moment in her life. I expected better sportsmanship from someone who has been to the dance 23 times.
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