OT: A real class act.....

[Zanzman]

Your all right just take emotions out of sports just play like robots .thats what I want to see

 

[Bronx23]

I didn't see what she did, but my guess is the noise wasn't affecting her, but the delays were.

As for Serena, I've met her several times, and she is one of the few down to earth players who is anything but a prima donna off the court. I'm not sure what got into her yesterday, and she was wildly out of line. But that shouldn't define her as a person, or a player. My guess is she'll appologize privately, the publicly.

Go watch the whole event from beginning to end, then decide what she needs to apologize for?
Your responses are valuable but without context you're responding to the noise and others comments!
Bronx23

 

[JustinesGuy]

2 Serena was losing and her coach signaled her to go to the net. Yes, she needed coaching today.

3 For what? Verbal abuse, any other player would have been defaulted. There is no way Naomi could have done the same thing without the same or worse repercussions

4 So what. Playing the victim card is getting old. If Serena wants equality with the men then play 5 sets in 90+ degrees and 60%+ humidity

Yes fantastic post. I think we are all saying Serena is a fantastic player and perhaps the best female tennis player of all time. Clearly I give her a ton of respect for the hard work, titles etc. That being said she deserved everything she got today. She was getting beat pretty badly, needed coaching and got the coaching and that’s illegal. The umpire was more than fair. She wants equal treatment and she got it. I’m sick of hearing about sexism. She should go play with the men if she wants to be treated like a man. I have news for you Serena would get destroyed on the men’s circuit. No sexist just truth. It’s comments like hers and actions like she undertook that makes people not like her. It has nothing to do with her skin color

 

[temery]

Go watch the whole event from beginning to end, then decide what she needs to apologize for?
Your responses are valuable but without context you're responding to the noise and others comments!
Bronx23

I have no interest watching the match beginning to end, but did see highlights. Her behavior overshadowed a young players first Open title. For that, she should apologies.

And I'm not sure what context you are looking for, and not sure what you mean by "whole event."

 

[JustinesGuy]

Your all right just take emotions out of sports just play like robots .thats what I want to see

Isn’t there a difference of emoting and acting like out of control, smashing racquets and cursing out chair umpires then claiming sexism. This act is getting old.
I will be on the Sloan Stevens train now if you want to find me.

 

[Zanzman]

She didn’t curse the umpire

 

[Lynx23]

I'm not a big tennis fan by any means but I recognize Serena's greatness. As a passive observer, I wanted to see her win. Sort of like rooting for Tiger, although I'm not a golf fan, either. Serena had a right to be angry, I guess, since rules are not always rules. I get that. But in my profession we teach children and adults that sometimes you just have to walk away and "let go". This is not any easy thing to do but had Serena just accepted the warning, like it or not, we wouldn't be having this discussion today. However, she exacerbated the situation not once, but twice, resulting in the loss of a game. In a NYT article this morning Naomi states that she was confused about what was going on and was surprised to see the 5-3 score in her favor following Serena's meltdown. To expect a young shy, relatively inexperienced 20-year-old to have requested the judge change the score is just ridiculous. As a passive observer, I'm left with the image of a young champion in tears, apologizing to the booing crowd for beating her idol. Really? To Serena's credit, she tried to calm the crowd down but she bears some responsibility for its actions. A joyous moment stolen from a young player. The crowd booing as she tried to hide her tears with a towel. This is what I'll remember.

 

[eebmg]

What I will remember from this match is the inspiring play of Osaka and how she outplayed Serena in every facet of the game over 2 sets. And when we speak of competitors, I will remember Osaka finishing off the match brilliantly on her serve as fan's were screaming their heads off.

The pleasure I got from watching her play so beautifully was very similar to a well orchestrated UConn game.

 

[temery]

She didn’t curse the umpire

She apparently called him a thief and a liar while complaining at length about his officiating, which is a significant rules violation. I've seen men tossed for similar tantrums, so he argument is ridiculous, and she looked silly insisting there is a double standard.

Coaching from the players box is a violation. Personally I think it's a stupid rule, but it's a rule, so everyone must comply. The warning was earned.

Breaking a racquet is a violation, and she deserved the point penalty.

I'm not sure what there is to disagree with. She was out of line, and was treated no differently than any other player in the same situation.

 

[Siestakeyfan]

Osaka clearly outplayed her, but it wasn't a good look for the US Open/game today. Unfortunate because Osaka really deserved all the accolades. Granted, if Osaka really wanted to avoid the controversy, she could have refused the Serena penalty and the powers be would have probably accepted to avoid a greater controversy.

Umpire with an some type of agenda CREATED this MESS !! He was out of line !!

 

[Bronx23]

I have a little trouble stomaching all the praise for Serena on this point. It seems like calming the crowd and focusing the spotlight on Osaka was the least Serena could do given the role she played in the whole nasty spectacle.

For as much as the umpire is the villain here, he didn't break Serena's racket. She is at least partly to blame here so to me her actions at the awards ceremony amount to little more than basic decency.

Another response that looks at things from ones own life experience and can't actually fathom what Serena was actually feeling.
While you didn't go whole hog against her, sorry to say, you too don't get it.
Imagine growing up in a poor, minority community and starting to play tennis on a cement playground. Being both black and a woman and being on the precipice of tying the record for most grand slams by a woman in history.
Truly look at the full body of her life, work, interests, accomplishments from where she has come. Don't forget there were at least two other major incidents at the US Open previously where she got unfair treatment.
Common decency and "the least she could have done", are truly minimizing what she did.
She truly wasn't totally totally faultless but her transgressions come from years of HER (and others) life experiences and I can think of few others who would have responded any better.
One of our recent threads is about the meaning and import and loss of Senator John McCain, who demonstrated such class in a comparable situation. But while he was a six year POW, with all the horrors that must have been brought upon him, he's a white male who came from a military background and family. I don't wish to minimize what he did and who he was one iota, but he didn't grow up a black women with parents of limited means from the inner city in the USA, and for her to become who she now is. A wonderful (not perfect) role model for girls, young women as well as boys and young men.
All of us must and I say must, not need, to engage with, others especially who are different than us. We need to stop judging others by our standards, which if examined fully, many of us don't live up to too well and / or they are not such great standards to begin with.
Bronx23

 

[temery]

Osaka clearly outplayed her, but it wasn't a good look for the US Open/game today. Unfortunate because Osaka really deserved all the accolades. Granted, if Osaka really wanted to avoid the controversy, she could have refused the Serena penalty and the powers be would have probably accepted to avoid a greater controversy.

Players cannot refuse a penalty. The best she could have done is tank the next point, which creates other problems.

 

[Bronx23]

She apparently called him a thief and a liar while complaining at length about his officiating, which is a significant rules violation. I've seen men tossed for similar tantrums, so he argument is ridiculous, and she looked silly insisting there is a double standard.

Coaching from the players box is a violation. Personally I think it's a stupid rule, but it's a rule, so everyone must comply. The warning was earned.

Breaking a racquet is a violation, and she deserved the point penalty.

I'm not sure what there is to disagree with. She was out of line, and was treated no differently than any other player in the same situation.

All sounds so darn rational but one can disagree with every point!
Have you seen MEN curse, using expletives and not get that penalty many times!
It was handled with very little common sense and discretion! And the fact that there are rules (one of which is blatantly ignored by almost everyone), doesn't in and of itself stand.
I'll make a strange analogy that was an issue here not too long ago. The rules / norm required something of a team winning a national championship. Does or should one break the rule / norm when one / or the team / or the coaches have questions and concerns.
This situation and life itself often is not that simple, clear cut and / or black / white.
Just try seeing other ways of viewing this from that persons context, not yours!
Bronx23

 

[temery]

2 Serena was losing and her coach signaled her to go to the net. Yes, she needed coaching today.

3 For what? Verbal abuse, any other player would have been defaulted. There is no way Naomi could have done the same thing without the same or worse repercussions

4 So what. Playing the victim card is getting old. If Serena wants equality with the men then play 5 sets in 90+ degrees and 60%+ humidity

Playing best three out of five sets would be to Serena's advantage.

 

[Bronx23]

Yes fantastic post. I think we are all saying Serena is a fantastic player and perhaps the best female tennis player of all time. Clearly I give her a ton of respect for the hard work, titles etc. That being said she deserved everything she got today. She was getting beat pretty badly, needed coaching and got the coaching and that’s illegal. The umpire was more than fair. She wants equal treatment and she got it. I’m sick of hearing about sexism. She should go play with the men if she wants to be treated like a man. I have news for you Serena would get destroyed on the men’s circuit. No sexist just truth. It’s comments like hers and actions like she undertook that makes people not like her. It has nothing to do with her skin color

Your comments are an absurd jump! She should go play with and beat the men, then maybe she'd have the right to say something!
Would ANY of our national championship women's team beat any low Division 2 teams let alone Division 1.

Bronx23

 

[temery]

All sounds so darn rational but one can disagree with every point!
Have you seen MEN curse, using expletives and not get that penalty many times!
It was handled with very little common sense and discretion! And the fact that there are rules (one of which is blatantly ignored by almost everyone), doesn't in and of itself stand.
I'll make a strange analogy that was an issue here not too long ago. The rules / norm required something of a team winning a national championship. Does or should one break the rule / norm when one / or the team / or the coaches have questions and concerns.
This situation and life itself often is not that simple, clear cut and / or black / white.
Just try seeing other ways of viewing this from that persons context, not yours!
Bronx23

The argument that there is a double standard is silly. Connors and McEnroe received numerous penalties, fines, and suspensions. Everyone remembers when they didn't, but forget that their early tantrums led to tighter enforcement of the rules in place - and they suffered the consequences multiple times.

And it is that simple (black and white): She broke the rules, and they were enforced. Complaining about times the rules were not consistently enforces changes nothing.

 

[msf22b]

I watched the match in fascination and horror.
Both in this thread and in various commentaries there is a strong divergence of opinion over where the fault resides for the debacle of Serena being penalized a game...which made the (perhaps but not certain) inevitable ending a foregone conclusion.

-I believe that the umpire overreacted at least twice...could have defused the situation rather than pour accelerant over it.
-That Serena's temper is unseemly, has gotten her in trouble before.
-That is some ways, Serena is still being penalized for being, a strong, successful woman, for being black, for her family having brought her and her sister up apart from the usual junior circuit, almost thumbing their nose at the federation
and society as a whole...for being a pushy, minority, athlete who doesn't understand her place (and what is the place of outspoken woman of color...Have they achieved complete equality)?...In a sense, is not this very issue, the cause of angst in greater society in our country, indeed throughout the world.

I looked forward to this match; indeed, until the tumult, thought it of exceptional quality....Serena is a great champ; Naomi is her 20 years ago...like looking at a mirror of her young self. What a solid game she has; how magnificently she strikes the ball.

I am truly sorry it ended as it did, but I am unable to cast definitive blame as to who should most be held responsible for the unpleasantness. There's plenty of blame to go around.

Naomi is poised to become a great champion and Serena may likely still have it in her to win another major or two.

Some commentators have spoken about the fact that Naomi's outstanding play will be forgotten; I disagree.
But the issues Serena raised are serious and despite her intemperate behavior, deserve scrutiny.


(Later addition): When I wrote some of the words above: I realized that I was paraphrasing my favorite moment from Ken Burn's Jazz series when a young, Southern, caucasian college freshman, first hears Louis Armstrong:

"Louis Armstrong was the first genius I had ever seen," Black later recalled. "It is impossible to overstate the significance of a 16-year-old Southern white boy seeing genius in a black person. Louis opened my eyes wide and put to me a choice. Blacks, as the saying went, were all right in their place. But what was the place for such a man, and the people from whence he sprung?"

Charles Black later was a lead lawyer in Brown vs the Board of Education

 

[temery]

Umpire with an some type of agenda CREATED this MESS !! He was out of line !!

Her coach admitted he was coaching. It's a stupid rule, but I've seen it enforced before, and the umpire was doing his job.

 

[Zanzman]

She apparently called him a thief and a liar while complaining at length about his officiating, which is a significant rules violation. I've seen men tossed for similar tantrums, so he argument is ridiculous, and she looked silly insisting there is a double standard.

Coaching from the players box is a violation. Personally I think it's a stupid rule, but it's a rule, so everyone must comply. The warning was earned.

Breaking a racquet is a violation, and she deserved the point penalty.

I'm not sure what there is to disagree with. She was out of line, and was treated no differently than any other player in the same situation.

I stated she didn’t curse after Justine’s guy stated she cursed at the official so I’m not sure why you replied to this comment

 

[Zanzman]

The problem seems to have started with the officials being inconsistent wether to enforce not coaching from the sidelines

 

[Zanzman]

Is she not treated different when she says she’s given several more drug tests than the other players

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Is there anyone who believes Serena, a 23 time winner in the slams, has to cheat to win? That she really needs coaching in the middle of a match?

Apparently one who believes she does is her coach, who admitted coaching after the match and said everybody does and the rule should be changed. See Yardbarker. I deleted mine. He also wants the rules loosened up to allow the players more emotional demonstrations, to which I say BS.

 

[eebmg]

While I am in the "Serena Deserved It" camp, I do think her coach should have backed up her story (true or not). You should expect a level of loyalty from your coach. The problem is that her coach is maybe too honest (she had issues with him before) and he is always ready to give out quotes (although I think his analysis is generally brilliant)

Tennis great Serena Williams needs a new coach

I am predicting a separation of coach and player.

 

[temery]

Is she not treated different when she says she’s given several more drug tests than the other players

Williams is tested more because of her therapeutic use exemption, and the fact she's a top ranked player.

The top men are tested as often. Lower ranked players are tested less often. If she wants to be tested less often, she needs to lose more, and give up her "therapeutic use exemption."

 

[j66kicker]

Regardless of Serena’s race, gender and family background, what I saw was a spoiled brat getting her *ss beat on the biggest stage in a match she was supposed to win and then be celebrated as the GOAT. But since she’s getting her *ss beat in a match she apparently feels she’s entitled to win - just because she’s the great Serena - she throws a fit and creates a situation where she can play the victim and deflect the attention away from her not being the best player that day, and deflect the attention away from the deserving winner’s great play to herself and the persecution of poor little Serena.

 

[temery]

The problem seems to have started with the officials being inconsistent wether to enforce not coaching from the sidelines

Nonsense. He was officiating a single match. He saw a player violating the rules. Serena is awesome, both as a player and as a person, but she was wildly out of line. Even good people make bad decisions. She did, and she should own it.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Your all right just take emotions out of sports just play like robots .thats what I want to see

 

[Zanzman]

Nonsense. He was officiating a single match. Only one player violated the rules. Serena is awesome, both as a player and as a person, but she was wildly out of line. Even good people make bad decisions. She did, and she should own it.

Did you hear the Announcers Pam Shriver and Chrissie Everett said coaches coach in matches all the tine but rarely called , I’m guessing you didn’t since you said you only watched the highlights so I think you were better off when you were stepping away cause you didn’t know what you talking about keep it up .

 

[Zanzman]

View attachment 34282

So frustration in here game by breaking a racket is bad sportsmanship. Really

 

[Zanzman]

While I am in the "Serena Deserved It" camp, I do think her coach should have backed up her story (true or not). You should expect a level of loyalty from your coach. The problem is that her coach is maybe too honest (she had issues with him before) and he is always ready to give out quotes (although I think his analysis is generally brilliant)

Tennis great Serena Williams needs a new coach

I am predicting a separation of coach and player.

So you are encouraging people to lie Just I thought do what is best for you at cost.