Serena Williams Treatens Physical Harm at US Open

Penalty, Serena Williams: unsportsmanlike conduct.

Defending US Open tennis champ, Serena Williams, will not be playing in the finals this year after being defeated by Kim Clijsters in the semifinals.

Williams was serving to stay in the match when she was called for a foot fault on her second serve, which she took exception to, to put it mildly. She then verbally assaulted the judge, pointing her racket at her and reportedly yelling, “If I could, I would take this … ball and shove it down your … throat and kill you.”  FYI, those ellipses take the place of multiple expletives.

The line judge immediately relayed the threat to the umpire and tournament referee, but Williams disputed she ever threatened to kill her.

Williams was given with a point penalty, which just so happened to cost her the game.

Regardless of whether or not she made the death threat, her conduct was inexcusable.

Tournament referee Brian Earley explained,  “She was called for a foot fault, and a point later, she said something to a line umpire, and it was reported to the chair, and that resulted in a point penalty. And it just happened that point penalty was match point. It was a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.”

Williams was also fined $10,000 for the outburst.

Serena revealed in a press conference afterward that she used to have a “real temper” which used to be a lot worse than her unprofessional display of poor sportsmanship on Saturday.  She did not, however, apologize during the press conference.  She finally took to her website to apologize for her outburst Monday morning.

It’s easy to say it’s just a game but, to professional athletes, it isn’t.  It’s their career, their paycheck and their whole life.  It’s a lot of pressure, so tests of temperament are common place.  However, part of that career is giving a good name to the sport and being a role model for young athletes everywhere. It’s disappointing when people forget that.

If any good comes from this, it’s that she was penalized for her actions, even though it cost her the game.  She had the choice to react the way she did and she made her choice. I hope it was worth it to her.  For us, it can be a teaching moment: you choose the action, you choose the consequence.