Most people begin their hatred for the bully with a tennis racket, known as serena williams only after her outbursts at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows Park.
DEFENDING US Open champion Serena Williams threatened to shove a ball down the throat and kill a line judge, in an explosion that cost her the match.
“I used to have a real temper, and I’ve gotten a lot better,” Williams said in her postmatch news conference. “So I know you don’t believe me, but I used to be worse. Yes, yes, indeed.” – Serena Williams
Asked in her postmatch news conference what she said to the line judge, Williams wouldn’t say, replying, “What did I say? You didn’t hear?” – Serena Williams
“I’ve never been in a fight in my whole life, so I don’t know why she would have felt threatened,” Williams said with a smile. – Serena Williams
Serena Williams outburst
Serena Williams was fined $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $500 for racket abuse, which occurred earlier in the match, by the tournament referee, Brian Earley. The $10,000 was the maximum fine that could be levied on site. Additionally, the administrator for the Grand Slam Committee, Bill Babcock, has opened an investigation into the incident. If that investigation determines that Williams committed a major offense, she could be fined all the money she earned at the tournament and suspended.
The Grand Slam administrator has jurisdiction to suspend a player from a Grand Slam event; it would most likely be the same event where the player committed the offense.
According to Article V of the Grand Slam Rule Book, which deals with major offenses, no person shall engage in “aggravated behavior,” which is defined as “one incident of behavior that is flagrant and particularly injurious to the success of a Grand Slam, or is singularly egregious.”
Although she barely acknowledged any transgression Saturday, Serena released a statement Sunday. She did not apologize.
“Last night, everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job,” the statement said. “Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don’t agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me, and as a result handled the situation poorly.
“I would like to thank my fans and supporters for understanding that I am human, and I look forward to continuing the journey, both professionally and personally, with you all as I move forward and grow from this experience.”
But for many people in tennis, including her friends and allies, Monday’s doubles match could provide an opportunity for Williams to apologize for her threatening outburst and profanity-laced comments.
“Once she reflects, I’m hoping she will apologize for her actions because as an athlete you have to find a way to keep your temper in check,” said Mary Joe Fernandez, a television commentator who is a former player.
Justin Gimelstob, another former player and television commentator, is a friend of the Williams sisters and said that Serena temporarily lost control and needed to make amends.
“She was obviously out of line and mishandled the situation,” he said. “The biggest issue is that afterward, she did not apologize and acknowledge her mistake,” he said. “But that one moment doesn’t indicate the type of person she really is. She’s a great champion and has contributed a ton to the game.”
In the final game of her loss to Kim Clijsters on Saturday, Williams was serving at 5-6 and 15-30 in the second set after losing the first, 6-4. She was called for a foot fault on a second serve, which made it 15-40, giving Clijsters match point.
Williams approached the baseline judge and, while using profane language, held up a ball and said that the lineswoman was lucky Williams was not “shoving this ball down your throat.” Williams punctuated her outburst by waving her racket at the woman.
The chair umpire, Louise Engzell of Sweden, called over the lineswoman, whose name has not been released. After consulting with Earley, Williams was assessed a code violation, or loss of a point, ending the match. (Williams had been issued a warning earlier for slamming her racket, so the loss of a point was an automatic penalty.)
Virginia Wade, who won the United States Open in 1968, was watching from the broadcast booth and heard what Williams said over microphones. Wade said she was “agog” over what she had heard and seen. “The only thing that I thought was strange was that she went into the press conference and didn’t have any remorse,” Wade said.
The incident, which lasted only a few minutes, was reminiscent of Ilie Nastase’s chaotic match against John McEnroe at the 1979 Open, when Nastase was defaulted for continuing to argue a call, then reinstated when the referee replaced the chair umpire, Frank Hammond. But even then, Nastase did not threaten bodily harm against the umpire or a linseman.
“It’s unfortunate,” he said Sunday. “It doesn’t happen many times, this kind of a situation.”
The former tournament director Jay Snyder, a chair umpire back in 1979, called it “the wildest night we’ve ever had here, and we’ve had some crazy nights.” By comparison, Saturday’s incident was rather orderly, he thought.
“I think this was handled very professionally,” he said. “The lineswoman did exactly what she should have.”
Liz Robbins contributed reporting.
Through a public relations agency, Williams released a statement Sunday that said, “Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure I can see that while I don’t agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly.”
ESPN2 and CBS tennis analyst Mary Carillo called the fine “a joke,” and suggested Williams shouldn’t be allowed to play the doubles final. “She should be out. How can you let her play? That woman was threatened and humiliated.”
Why was this so appalling to African Americans?
First, because the US Open is played in Flushing Meadows Park, and is named in honor of the civil rights leader Arthur Ashe. The USTA named it “Arthur Ashe Stadium”. This is also the home of the annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day.
Who is Arthur Ashe?
arthur ashe biography
Arthur Ashe, who was the first African-American male to win a Grand Slam event, was an active civil rights leader, who gave hope and promise to young African Americans, wanting to some day, be as great as Arthur Ashe. He was a member of a delegation of 31 prominent African-Americans who visited South Africa to observe political change in the country as it approached racial integration.
Civil Rights and Breaking Down barriers or discrimination
I HAVE A DREAM
Serena Williams had her chance to fight against civil rights discrimination, and still competes
Serena Williams has her chance to become involved in civil rights, and use her power with the WTA to cancel the Dubai Open or Boycott the event, or at least suddenly become ill and not compete due to injury or illness. Instead, she is seen partying, happy at press conferences and still competes, even though she is visibly injured.
arthur ashe
So can you please explain why pro tennis star serena williams has no proper education about civil rights leaders like Arthur Ashe, Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King? Can someone please explain why discrimination is ok to the williams sisters? Yes, venus also acted ignorant and competed in a civil rights attack.
serena and her sister venus might be great tennis players, but they have no education of
the history of discrimination against blacks, and how important it is to represent blacks as the
the best female tennis players in the world.
What this all comes down to is that by serena williams losing her temper at the us open in NY, and her mouth spitting out vulgar obscenities and threats, she sounded like a hoodlum from the ghetto.
She took the progress that arthur ashe made, and threw it in the garbage by reinforcing a stereotype that people like arthur ashe spent his life trying to change.
In a clear show of of desecrating the memory of arthur ashe, serena chose the stadium dedicated to him, to show her most disrespect.
Now that you understand the total disregard for what she and her sister stand for, and how important it really is to uphold the injustices and discrimination that blacks had, just a few years ago, we must discuss another issue of discrimination that serena and venus did nothing about.
Because serena and venus built their career on their actions and not on their words, by their inactivity of the discrimination that occurred in dubai, and the decision to still compete showed they have not learned anything from arthur ashe’s struggles and what he did to change the world.
While the focus of the tennis public has been elsewhere, the Williams sisters have been dominant on the court itself. Venus, who appeared to have been superseded by her sister Serena a few years ago, beat her sibling 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) to reach the final of the Dubai Open. It was her fifth victory in the sisters’ last seven meetings.
More significant than reaching the final was what the match said about a pair who remain the best players in the world when they are fit and committed. Serena almost did not play because of her troublesome knee and was bothered by it during the two-hour match. But she survived well enough to derive satisfaction from a superb final set, completing a phase of a schedule in which she has “played more tennis than at any time in my life”.
In contrast, most arab countries will only hire africans and philipino’s as servants, and women are second class citizens in most arab countries.
You cannot use the excuses that were thrown in the mix as a way out.
In a similar excuse to all the olympic athletes had already arrived to munich in 1972 to compete, the event was not stopped and the athletes chose to still compete. A massacre of jewish athletes had just happened in the 1972 munich olympics, where they were tortured, held hostage and killed.
Sports were used for a political message. Didn’t professional athletes like serena and venus learn anything about this? Were’nt serena and venus also olympic athletes?
An excuse not to compete, did not even have to look like solidarity.
athletes have many injuries throughout their career, and it it is not unusal for them to miss a tournament or not compete. while it was known that serena williams was suffering from an injury in her foot during dubai, she could have easily opted not to compete, but instead she decided to compete injured.
In contrast, men’s world number #1 opted out, due to injury (and still showed up to dubai) and andy roddick also opted out, serena williams and venus decided their words were stronger than their actions. while they verbally made statements, their lack of class and upbringing was in full view for the world to see.
“I really didn’t agree with what went on over there. I don’t know if it’s the best thing to mix politics and sports, and that was probably a big part of it,” Roddick said at a tournament in Memphis, Tenn.
Was it because of money or stupidity?
Did serena and venus choose to compete because of the money?
Did they have a personal commitment?
Was it a lack of education or was it hatred for jews?
Sponsors pulled out
While tennis tv and the wsj pulled out, others stayed in. lets look at who stayed in. Are they an international company, or arab owned?
lacrose is based in the anti-semetic country of france, and has a histrory of discrimination. while, lacrose recently previewed their latest clothing lines at
the new york fashion week, nobody in ny boycotted the show. is mischa barton and the geldof sisters anti-semitic or just stupid?
barclay’s – do barclays have any branches in israel or new york? if all the banks were owned by jews, as anti-semetics belive, would’nt they have pulled out
of the dubai sponsorship?
duty free – the country owns the duty free.
rolex – rolex does not rely on jewish buyers of their time pieces, has no morals or ethics. would a jewish man or woman now be caught dead with a rolex?
sony ericcson – apple iphone and blackberry and even nokia are the mobile phones of the world, and by most jewish people. there is also much competition for electronic
goods like televisions and radios, where a jewish man or women would choose over anything made by sony erricson
xerox emirates – this is an arab company. xerox competition has nearly ended the use of the term “xerox this for me” as synomonous with copy this. you may have a stronghold in the arab countries, but
everywhere else, your company would cease to exist.
newsweek – as people turn to the internet for current world news, staffers are being eliminated and magazines like newsweek are closing down. this dinosaur will cease to being printed very shortly.
the relevance of newsweek ended many years ago. goodbye newsweek.
pine esse – why hasn’t WTA banned a tobacco company from sponsorship? by allowing a company that knowingly sells products that cause cancer. a painful and slow death? thank heaven arab countries such as esse have no relations with israel. This should only be offensive to asians especially from Korea, who are wildly addicted by these cancer sticks.
jacobs creek wine – australian wine company.
“No player, who qualifies to play an ATP World Tour event, should be denied their right to compete on the basis of ethnicity, nationality or religion and we are happy that the Dubai Tennis Championships and the UAE have shown that they share that view,” ATP President Adam Helfant said in a statement.
“I hope and believe that from this day forward, athletes from all over the world will be able to compete in the UAE and anywhere else in the world without discrimination of any kind,” Peer said in a statement.
Top past and present tennis players had spoken out against the Emirates’ ban on Israelis — including Billie Jean King and Venus and Serena Williams — saying sports and politics should not mix.
“I think it’s wonderful that Andy Ram has the opportunity to play. We are all athletes and we have no platform. We are here to play tennis, we are entertainers, and I am happy he has the opportunity to do that,” Venus Williams said Thursday after defeating Elena Dementieva, of Russia, in the women’s tournament, which ends Saturday.
Her sister, top-ranked Serena, said: “Obviously, I am not for discrimination. Everyone bleeds red blood and everyone should get an equal opportunity.”
serena williams foot fault
serena williams press conferance
Ok, so after the discrimination, the tennis world hit back:
If you expected some type of fine, you would be right. The Dubai Championships were given a record $300,000 fine by the WTA, after the Israeli player Shahar Peer was barred from the event. The WTA said the fine was the largest ever levied against a tour member and that Peer will be awarded $44,250 (£30,650), an amount equal to the average prize money she earned per tournament in 2008, with $7,950 going to Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who was to be Peer’s doubles partner. As important, Scott said, was requiring the organizers to post a $2 million performance guarantee — something normally not required by established, financially sound events like the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Chief executive of the women’s tour, Larry Scott, speaks out against UAE and Dubai:
“The actions taken are intended to redress the wrongs suffered by Shahar Peer, who was victimised by an unjust policy of discrimination by the UAE.” “These actions are also intended to send a clear message that our tour will not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that we will never allow this situation to happen again.”
Scott had previously warned the organisers that they risked punishment after their decision to bar Peer from the country. “What happened to Shahar was discriminatory, reprehensible and unacceptable,” he said. “The WTA will require [assurances] to guarantee all Israeli athletes entry so that future tournaments in the UAE may take place.
“Peer is owed all of our thanks for her courage in challenging an unjust policy and for forcing action to be taken. It is deeply regrettable that Shahar had to suffer the negative consequences of the UAE decision this past week in order for this policy to get turned around for the benefit of others.”
Fellow Israeli player, the doubles specialist Andy Ram, did receive a visa for the men’s tournament after the UAE backed down on its previous stance in the face of international pressure. He will compete in the men’s Dubai Open next week.
The ATP, the ruling body of men’s professional tennis, had made it clear that either Ram played or there would be no tournament. “No player should be denied their right to compete on the basis of ethnicity, nationality or religion and we are happy that the Dubai Championships and the UAE have shown that they share that view,” said Adam Helfant, the ATP’s recently appointed executive chairman.
Issy Holland – NCAA US College Tennis Recruiting Video, looking for a College place in the Fall of 2012.