Serena Williams is the worst kind of loser — the one who wants to bask in the adulation of an adoring media when she wins, then acts put out when she has to answer to the same press after she loses. Look up to Serena for her athleticism, for her power, for her courage, for her tenacity and for being the greatest female athlete of a generation. But don’t look up to her sportsmanship. It’s her weakest link. Everyone has them.
Serena is 44-3 at the U.S. Open since 2008, a mark which includes four dominant title wins. But those three losses are all memorable in their own way: In the 2009 semifinal, Serena was down 4-6, 4-5, 15-30 against Kim Clijsters when she was called for a foot fault on a second serve. Set into a rage, Serena menacingly stared down the linejudge who made the call and said “I’m going to take this ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat” among other sentiments.
After a brief discussion with the chair, Serena was assessed a point penalty (she had already had one violation in the match) and that point gave the match to Clijsters.
Fast forward two years to Serena’s next U.S. Open (injury caused her to miss the 2010 event). She was down a set and a break (notice a pattern?) to Sam Stosur in the final when she appeared to save a break point at 0-2, 30-40 in the second set. But chair umpire Eva Asderaki called Serena for hindrance — she had yelled “come on” when Stosur still had a realistic chance to make a return. (The hindrance call was correct. The foot fault was — debatable.)
Some of the best quotes from her multiple tirades to the chair:
• “Are you the one who screwed me over last time?” (She wasn’t.)
• “If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way because you’re out of control, you’re out of control. You’re a hater and you’re just unattractive inside.”
• “You get a code violation because I express who I am. We’re in America last I checked.”
• “‘Really, don’t even look at me. I promise you don’t look at me because I am not — don’t look my way.”
She’d go on to lose in straight sets and, despite being on probation from the 2009 incident, only received a paltry $2,000 fine — or exactly 1/700th of the $1.4 million she earned at the Open that year.
Despite being given multiple opportunities to apologize over the years, Serena has refused to do so, except in the perfunctory way of apologizing to people who may have been offended, not directly to the persons who were certainly offended: the two women she threatened, however flippantly.
Those incidents were six and four years ago, respectively. Serena hasn’t had a similar outburst since and has warmed her image, making sure photographers see her with her dog Chip, at basketball games with new bestie Caroline Wozniacki and having tea with Kim Kardashian before the U.S. Open semifinal. These are all carefully choreographed media moments, intent on letting the world get to know the “real” Serena. And that’s fine. But life isn’t all about courtside seats and trips to the beach. Reality inevitability comes a-callin’.
So when Williams was upset at the U.S. Open on Friday, by an Italian journeywoman who didn’t even have betting odds on her before the tournament, she should give the press the time it deserves. The media fawns all over her, so the least she can do is reciprocate when there’s a big story at hand. Instead, Serena blew them off, going on for about three minutes in press before cutting off questions, ending her own interview and leaving the National Tennis Center.
Roger Federer’s loss was just as crushing and he takes questions in three languages. Vinci speaks broken English and handled questions with aplomb. Serena barely sat down long enough for her seat to get warm. Her sister, Venus, spoke four times as long after her quarterfinal loss to her sister than Serena did after her loss. (Take a note on how to lose with class from Vee, Serena.)
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