US Open 2009 Controversy: Serena Williams versus Kim Clijsters, Racially Motivated?

September 12, 2009 by vongsundara · 11 Comments 

U.S. Open: Serena Williams penalized on match point to fall in semis -- ESPN.

To start off, please let me say that I am not a big Serena Williams fan (though I do love Venus Williams), more for her after-match press conference remarks throughout the years. That being said, I really respect Serena Williams as a competitor on the court.

What happened to Serena Williams at the US Open 2009 tonight was absolutely ridiculous. If this was the first incident against the Williams sisters, I might look at it differently, as Serena did clearly verbally abuse the lineswoman. Sure, by the rules, everything went according to the book. I just can’t see this as an isolated incident, though.

The horrible part (not as horrible as what happened to Serena of course) is that I’m actually a really huge Kim Clijsters fan, and she was outplaying Serena and had a huge shot at winning the match had it gone on. That being said, Serena has been down in similar situations and still gone on to win the tournament (like this year at Australian Open and French Open). So Kim not being to close it out does indeed leave doubts. Serena holding serve would have had a shot at a tiebreaker to even the match with the third set being 50/50 odds at winning. So let’s be clear that Serena was by no means out of the match when this happened.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I should explain the situation.

Serena Williams was serving at 15-30, second serve, against Kim Clisters who was leading 6-5 in the second set. Serena was called for a foot fault, meaning she stepped over the line on her serve. Now, it was foolish of the commentators to try to comment on whether she foot faulted or not. First of all, the camera angles are really difficult to see and second of all, calling a foot fault to give someone match point is almost unheard of in tennis.

Yes, unheard of. Especially for a baseline player who was not approaching the net.

There have also been many, many times worse arguments that did not end with a point violation to end a match. Yes, Serena did have a previous code violation for smashing her racquet earlier in the match. Yes, getting a second violation is an automatic point penalty. Still, though, compared to what has happened in the past in tennis, this was way overboard to have the match end this way. This is when judgment should be used. Ending the match was not good judgment.

Let’s combine this knowledge with all the past incidents that have happened against Serena Williams and Venus Williams, the most notable is of course the Serena vs. Jennifer Capriati match from the US Open 2004 tournament.

Now, this is where it gets iffy, and I know people are going to get upset at this and accuse me of bringing up the race card, but seriously . . . this would not have happened if Serena was white. Yeah, I said it. You all know it’s true too.

Like I said, as an isolated incident, it might be seen differently, but the treatment Serena has received over the years (which by the way I can’t think of the same types of incidents occurring over and over to any other players) leads me to this conclusion.

Yes, Serena could have handled herself better (which I think she did during the Capriati incident), but enough is enough people. Yes, I realize the lineswoman was not white.

Anyhow, that’s still how I feel.

Also, the fact that these incidents ONLY happen during tiebreaks (like Venus getting screwed because the score was incorrectly called “by accident”), or to give break point (Capriati match), or to give match point (Clijsters match). . . well, doesn’t that say a lot.

Having rewatched the calls from the YouTube video above have made me even more mad again.

Please have a look at the video before commenting, as it shows how ridiculous the history has been and why Serena Williams probably lost her cool today.

Just to remind everyone, the treatment of Serena has been so bad in the past that it’s generally agreed upon that it is the single defining moment that pushed the Grand Slam tournaments to adopt a challenge system.

Filed under: Commenting
Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,