US Open Serena Williams US Open Meltdown – VIDEO
The women’s semifinal at the US Open came to an unsatisfying and disappointing end Saturday night when a Serena Williams foot fault and subsequent meltdown resulted in a win for opponent Kim Clijsters.
Second-seeded Serena Williams was down 15-30 when she was called by the match lineswoman on a foot fault. Williams, who had already been warned for breaking a racket earlier in the match, stormed over to the lineswoman to protest the foot fault call.
Serena Williams at US Open - ABC
Most of what Serena Williams proceeded to say to the line judge while brandishing a racket at the woman is not audible on the foot fault video circulating on the Net. Reportedly, however, Williams threatened the line judge and berated her with profanity.
According to several media sources, Williams’ said something along the lines of: “If I could, I would take this ball and shove it down your throat.” Williams landed a second warning for her outburst, receiving a point penalty and lost match point, giving the victory to Kim Clijsters.
“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,” tournament referee Brian Earley said in a press interview following the match. “And it just happened that point penalty was match point. It was a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Williams has since apologized for her nasty behavior at the US Open match, but frankly her words come across about as sincere and believable as Congressman Joe Wilson’s apology for yelling “You Lie!” at President Obama during his speech on health care reform to Congress. Which means, not at all.
