Tennis

[Ginger]

I saw Federer talking to the umpire and then Del Potro walked over but I couldn't hear what either said as I was talking on the phone.

That was pretty amazing. Some dingus in the crowd yelled "OUT!" after one of del Potro's shots and Federer stopped playing because he thought it was called out, which it hadn't been, and del Potro kept playing and scored a winner. Federer went over to the umpire to complain and the ump didn't really have a solution, so Federer goes, "Can I at least challenge it?" So he challenged it, and guess what? The ball really had been out.

But THEN, del Potro got upset. Since Federer had gotten on del Potro previously in the match for taking too long to challenge, del Potro was, "If I can't wait that long, he can't wait that long either." So amazingly, the ump makes the dumbest call ever and says they have to go back to 1st serve and replay the point. The ball was OUT.

[soul]

That's apples and oranges to me. At no point did Jennifer go near the linesperson, wave a racket in the face of the linesperson, or in any way try to intimidate or threaten the linesperson. THAT is what Serena is in trouble for. The Capriati rant is pretty standard stuff.

Jennifer had her racket in her hand as well. It happens when you play tennis and get mad. You don't necessarily drop the racket to tell someone off.

I think everything boiled down nicely for Serena.

I wonder whether Rodger will get a fine for cursing at the official.

[litzikohanovich]

I really think they should clamp down on bad behviour be it from Serena, Federer, or anyone else. Was it McEnroe who started this kind of thing? I prefer some civility.

[margojata]

Sept 15, 2009 4:32:51 GMT -4 @litzikohanovich said:

I really think they should clamp down on bad behviour be it from Serena, Federer, or anyone else. Was it McEnroe who started this kind of thing? I prefer some civility.

AMEN. Roger also let out a couple of F words. Mary Carillo was a little horrified by it, and Dick (I'm crossing over into crazy old man category) Enberg said, "But he was civil". Civil cursing? Mary just laughed with a McEnroe like, "You have got to be kidding me!" tone.

Serena is not off the hook yet. They are going to discuss whether there should be further punishment, and I think she totally needs a suspension. Examples need to be set. When a college football player slugged another player last week, he was suspended for the YEAR.

Great match last night. I love underdogs, so how nice to see Del Potro pull it out. He's got a little JFK Jr. look going - especially after he shaved (he popped onto the Today Show for a few minutes this morning).

And as usual, I hate Gwen bitchface Stefani. She and Gavin can't be bothered to be gracious about a winner who isn't Roger. I get it, he's your friend. But Jesus, even Roger's father always claps and looks gracious. Gwen and Gavin sit stone faced like someone has just stolen their children.

[Deleted]

Sept 15, 2009 10:52:20 GMT -4 margojata said:

Serena is not off the hook yet. They are going to discuss whether there should be further punishment, and I think she totally needs a suspension. Examples need to be set. When a college football player slugged another player last week, he was suspended for the YEAR.

The fact of the matter is tennis operates differently from sports with overarching governing bodies. Serena's outburst only got the attention it did because of her name recognition and the match being telecast on prime time television. These kinds of outburst happen throughout the course of the season, with very little in the way of punishment handed down to the players

Earlier this year, Azarenka, a top 10 player was abusive toward both the linespersons and the chair umpire, but she was neither slapped with a fine, or suspension. Marat Safin just 2 years ago also went on a tirade against both the chair and linesperson, and nothing came of that either. And just yesterday, Federer let the f-bombs fly. Nothing will happen to him either.

Serena got her punishment, a code violation (combined with the racquet abuse, she received at the end of the first set) to lose the point, which ended the match. She was serving at 15-40 when the incident happened. Any talk of additional punishments is just hot air. The indignation of tennis media is beyond righteous. Anyone who follows tennis closely knows this is not an isolated incident, and those with a little bit of name recognition and power want to now appear "tough". There was very little inclination within the tennis world to crack down on outbursts, and that hasn't changed now. At the end of the day, these types of incidents (and many others) occur often on the ITF, WTA, and ATP tours. It's just that most tennis fans don't see or hear about them.

[Ginger]

Marat Safin just 2 years ago also went on a tirade against both the chair and linesperson, and nothing came of that either.

I'm sure that was excused based on the sheer sexiness of it. A Safin tirade is something to look forward to.

[Deleted]

I thought Serena showed poor form in her tirade.

But I do think she gets more attention for her outbursts because she's Serena.

I thought Martina Hingis was a really big brat (though I guess she was smart enough to show her brattiness after the match was over) but very little ever seemed to be said about her. I remember being appalled when she refused to come out and congratulate Steffi Graf for winning the French Open and then her mother had to drag her out on court. It's a different scenario and not really a parallel, but I don't know how to judge Serena since a lot of tennis players act like big old babies.

I think Bjorn Borg is probably the only tennis player I can think of who has ever kept his composure through every tennis match he ever played.

[Deleted]

Serena's outburst was something we've never seen from her before...there've been other controversies surrounding her career, with her dad Richard fueling the fire, and I've seen Serena mad at herself or calls or missed shots before, and also questioning calls, but never something like this. I remember reading about the Williams sisters in Rolling Stone when Venus was 14 so and Serena was 12.

I can't help but think that she was surprised at how Clijsters played, and was mad at herself for thinking the match would be a cake walk, and that came out and she used the line judge as a scapegoat. That's no excuse; she's been playing long enough to be able to check her emotions instead of spewing vitriol.

ds1, I remember Hingis' brattiness and that refusal.

Ivan Lendl seemed to keep his composure, as did Pete Sampras, despite a hurl on the court a time or two.

[bitterntwisted]

Kim Clijsters came back. Get ready for Justine Henin now. Any thoughts?

[lpatrice]

UGH.