US Open Tennis 2009

[Bluedog]

Wow, one of the strangest endings I have EVER seen to a tennis match, let alone a US Open semi-final match. Anybody else see it? Serena retired the match essentially when she was match point down after having a foot fault called on her on a second serve. Serena was PISSED and I think wanted the lines judge replaced - yelling at her after the foot fault call multiple times. Commentators said she said something like "I'll shove my racquet down your throat." While the lines judge claimed she threatened to kill her, which Serena said was ridiculous and didn't happen... After that, Serena decided she didn't want to play the final point and just shook Clijsters hand. In any event, very strange. The crowd was not a fan of Serena's actions. I think the call was terrible (1. I don't think it was a foot fault and 2. you don't call it in those circumstances unless the foot is egregiously over the line), but it didn't determine the outcome of the match. Clijsters outplayed Serena. And Serena lost her cool; and she shouldn't have.

Edit: Apparently, Serena didn't "retire." It was a point penalty given on match point. She had previously had a warning for completely destroying her racquet earlier in the match - yeah, it was obliterated. Then for "verbally abusing" the lines judge with profanities, she was given a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

[Maxwell1977]

Wow! I wonder how many saw this. I had no idea the match was played. The web site said the matches were 'Cancelled'. When I checked CBS, they were showing some craptacular movie.

[kexman]

Earlier in the day they were showing an old Connors match from 1991 when he was totally berating the umpire. To be fair to Connors he had a legitimate beef. The chair umpire overruled the line judge on the far side. With replay it was tough to judge either way and as McEnroe pointed out in the broadcast there was no way that the chair umpire could clearly see that across the court to make an overruling call. Regardless, Connors berated the judge for 30 seconds...called him a bum...etc. I watched that and wondered how that was tolerated.
Later that night Serena Williams goes off on the line judge. Going back to Connors, he berated the umpire...called him a bum...said there was no way he could clearly see the call...etc. He did not threaten the guy in any way. Serena Williams didn't just berate the official...she threatened the line judge with bodily harm. It was really bizarre and somewhat violent. I think for that level of abuse she probably should be suspended for some length of time...but I'm not sure Tennis has that power.
I'm curious if her sponsors will react in any way to this situation

[mapei]

She is certainly not the only or first tennis player to be classless. And I would rather that Clijsters had finished her off on the court, which she probably would have. But she absolutely deserved both calls. (Replays clearly showed a footfault, and actually she could have been called on the preceding serve as well.)

Serena's history is to be a braggart who never gives her opponents or other players respect. She always has an excuse when she loses. Some people like that street-fighter mentality in athletes. Not me.

[cato]

Serena's conduct was inexcusable. I am not defending her. But did anyone see any indication that she committed a foot fault? I couldn't tell from the replay, but it sure didn't look like something that should be called. I don't understand why there isn't more discussion of whether the call was correct.

With the challenge technology they have in tennis now, why can't they have a definitive way of calling foot faults?

[InSpades]

I turned it on just as this was happening. They never showed a good replay of the foot fault from what I saw. They always showed it from behind which makes it pretty much impossible to tell if her foot was actually on the line.

There's absolutely no doubt she deserved the point penalty though. I'm not the world's best lip-reader but she definitely said something along the lines of "I'm going to shove this ball down your *bleeping* throat". If that isn't "threatening" then I don't know what is. She was pretty classless in her post-match press conference as well. I think when you lose and you say "she played great, I played awful" that isn't really a compliment to your opponent.

[Reisen]

Yeah, I gotta say, the story here isn't the foot fault. Bad call or not, it wouldn't be the first one in the history of tennis.

According to news articles I've read, she said "I'm going to shove this #$@% ball down your %#@! throat." I watched the youtube clip, and you could see the crowd react.

I think she deserves a suspension.

[snowdenscold]

On a different note, check out Federer's shot to bring the game to match point. It would have been awesome to end the match on this, but the point before is still cool too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsvtcyGh8OI

Edit: Better quality: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/ten...reg&id=4462264

[aimo]

I was watching it as it happened. As mentioned before, bad calls happen, but you keep going. Think of how different the outcome would have been if she had only sucked it up and continued playing and possibly made a comeback (though I doubt it, Clijsters had outplayed her the whole match.). And when she admitted during a press conference that they had been calling a lot more foot faults against her this tournament, I really had no sympathy for her. If they're calling foot faults, hmmmmm . . . DON'T DO IT! Move your toe 1/4 inch back and move on. John McEnroe's statements that you don't call a "minor" foot fault at that stage is ridiculous. A foot fault is a foot fault. And if you disagree with the call, keep going. Threatening the linesperson gets you nowhere but in trouble nowadays.

It's sad b/c the attention should all be going to Kim Clijsters for coming back after a two-year hiatus, playing almost no tennis, entering as unseeded therefore playing a tough field, beating BOTH Williams sisters, and becoming the first mother to win a major tourney since Goolagong in '80. Amazing!

[hughgs]

I was watching it as it happened. As mentioned before, bad calls happen, but you keep going. Think of how different the outcome would have been if she had only sucked it up and continued playing and possibly made a comeback (though I doubt it, Clijsters had outplayed her the whole match.). And when she admitted during a press conference that they had been calling a lot more foot faults against her this tournament, I really had no sympathy for her. If they're calling foot faults, hmmmmm . . . DON'T DO IT! Move your toe 1/4 inch back and move on. John McEnroe's statements that you don't call a "minor" foot fault at that stage is ridiculous. A foot fault is a foot fault. And if you disagree with the call, keep going. Threatening the linesperson gets you nowhere but in trouble nowadays.

It's sad b/c the attention should all be going to Kim Clijsters for coming back after a two-year hiatus, playing almost no tennis, entering as unseeded therefore playing a tough field, beating BOTH Williams sisters, and becoming the first mother to win a major tourney since Goolagong in '80. Amazing!

The line judge has no choice on the foot fault matter. A foot fault is not a judgment call. If it happens then it has to be called. And the line judge has the best angle on the play. Unless you can see down the line or directly above the line it's hard to argue that it was a bad call.

[Jeffrey]

The line judge has no choice on the foot fault matter. A foot fault is not a judgment call. If it happens then it has to be called. And the line judge has the best angle on the play. Unless you can see down the line or directly above the line it's hard to argue that it was a bad call.

Please explain. Humans are frequently wrong. It seems to me like a foot fault call is a judgment call. We frequently see that line calls are wrong on replays.

[Deslok]

Its not a judgment call in that its not a call where you look at it and think "Did that affect the play or not?" The foot is either behind the line, or its not. And if the line judge sees the foot on or over the line, the call has to be made. To do otherwise is to fail at their job. Doesn't matter the situation, doesn't matter the score, the players know the rules, and need to abide by them.

A judgment call would be the point awarded because of Williams' outburst. Or delay of game, excessive grunting, etc. Those types of calls will only get called on match point in egregious situations, like what was said to the line judge in this instance.

[jimsumner]

Contrast Williams' appalling behavior with that of Djokovic against Federer yesterday.

Djokovic was serving at 5-5, deuce in the second set, IIRC. Big point.

Djokovic hit a clear service winner. Federer was barely able to nick the ball with his racquet.

The chair incorrectly called the serve out. Djokovic challenged and the replay showed the shot well in. Djokovic should have won the point. But the chair compounded his initial error by ruling that Federer had a play on the ball and it was still first serve at deuce.

Djokovic was displeased and voiced his displeasure for a few seconds. He then went back, served and won the point anyway.

That's the way to respond to a bad call. And, for the record, I'm not sure the foot fault called on SW was a bad call. I haven't seen a conclusive replay. Officials make mistakes all the time but I can't imagine why the line-judge would have made that call at that time if she weren't absolutely certain.

Serena long has had a reputation as a me-first prima donna but this was so far beyond the pale of acceptable conduct that I wonder if her public persona will ever recover.

[Tom B.]

Jason Whitlock weighs in.

Incidentally, whichever handler allowed Serena Williams to issue that statement after the incident (I won't call it an apology, because it was anything but) should be canned immediately. Not one hint of remorse -- just more grousing about the call and trying to pass off her petulance as "passion." How anyone in the PR business could have thought it would inspire anything but a negative reaction is beyond me.

Now it looks like she's realized that nobody's buying it and that, if anything, the statement only threw gasoline on the fire and made it more likely that the USTA will drop a bomb on her. She's trying to walk it back by issuing another statement -- and for whatever it's worth, this time she actually uses the word "apologize."

[hughgs]

Please explain. Humans are frequently wrong. It seems to me like a foot fault call is a judgment call. We frequently see that line calls are wrong on replays.

As my father, who is an internationally recognized referee in judo, says, it is not whether the call is right or wrong it is the process of making the call. The job of the referee in all sports is to correctly follow the established process to make any call.

If the line judge sees a foot fault then the foot fault must be called. If the head referee thinks they are wrong then the head referee then overrules the call. If they don't overrule the call then the call stands.

As mentioned previously the judgment call was when the head referee decided there was an unsportsmanlike occurrence during play. Even then, there's a process for making that call and the job of the referee is to follow that process.

[Mal]

The more I think about it, the worse it gets to me. I think at first I was more shocked to see Williams destroy her racket at the end of the first set. I don't know that I've ever seen a female player do that, at least not with that level of violence (although I'm sure it's happened). It seemed to help her, temporarily, though, as she was better the first half of the second set.

At first I just thought the foot fault episode was a standard tirade, of the "Are you kidding me?" variety, and in the same family as a million McEnroe shoutdowns. Now, I don't think there's any reason to suppose that Serena really figured she was going to physically harm the lineswoman, but the statement is categorically way different than questioning judgment or eyesight. And the way she said it and the multiple f-bombs...wow. I guess I just can't remember ever hearing anything like that on a tennis court before. I can imagine someone dropping obscenities and not being too alarmed at it; you know, "That's a *&#$ing ridiculous call! Are you #*$%ing blind?" That would be bad and hurt children's ears, but this is a lot worse.

My initial impression was also colored by not understanding that the lineswoman was summoned to the referee's chair. It had looked to me like she just trotted over there of her own initiative, which made her look like a tattletail. Turns out the referee wanted a report. It's certainly not up to the line judge to then downplay or lie about what was just spewed in their direction.

[Jeffrey]

As my father, who is an internationally recognized referee in judo, says, it is not whether the call is right or wrong it is the process of making the call. The job of the referee in all sports is to correctly follow the established process to make any call.

If the line judge sees a foot fault then the foot fault must be called.

Do you think this is what the vast majority of all college hoops referees do in the final minute of a close game?

[Maxwell1977]

A big Wow! for the big Argentine.

[YourLandlord]

The more I think about it, the worse it gets to me. I think at first I was more shocked to see Williams destroy her racket at the end of the first set. I don't know that I've ever seen a female player do that, at least not with that level of violence (although I'm sure it's happened). It seemed to help her, temporarily, though, as she was better the first half of the second set.

Roid rage.

Seriously.

[hughgs]

Do you think this is what the vast majority of all college hoops referees do in the final minute of a close game?

I think they try and follow the process. Whether they do or not is another question and I don't think I have the expertise to evaluate the performance of the referees.

In fact, I'll stick my head out and say that I don't think that most people have the expertise to evaluate the performance of referees. From the standpoint of someone who has reffed volleyball games, there's a huge difference between knowing the rules and being able to referee a game.