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Child Item

Serena's meltdown

Kivaro

Being an admirer of what she has done on court and proving that mothers can be excellent athletes after giving birth, a different side of Serena Williams may have been exposed in her outburst at the US Open yesterday.

But here's the deal after watching a number of reports of the incident, I am amazed by the amount of people rushing to support her. Experts in tennis validated the sanctions imposed by the umpire; yet still she publicly called him a liar and a cheat, and said that she was "here fighting for womens rights" and the umpire sanctioned her because she was a woman. She said if a man was on court, it would not have happened. So the umpire, according to Serena, was a sexist, liar, and cheat. And she said all of this on the court in front of a massive crowd and on live TV.

Speaking to the media after the event, she said it was "sexist" of the umpire to take a game away from her. "But I'm going to continue to fight for women.", she said. Some of her supporters have accused the umpire of being racist and that he was on a misogynistic power trip. Get a grip, it was a tennis game; not a human rights march.

You can go online to see her outbursts yesterday, but I find it mind boggling that so much these days is attributed to sexism/racism/whateverism when things don't go their way.

Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka, who became the first Japanese player to win a major singles final, was left in tears as a result of the incident.

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Itssoeasy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OILrXggTjpQ

This is a clip of the thief comment from last night. I'll be honest it doesn't make Serena look good at all. She comes across very poorly here.

[Deleted User]

just surprised she didn't pull the ali G line "is it 'cos I'm blick"? (probably just didn't say that 'cos her opponent Osaka is black-japanese). both of them crying after the match. crowd booing. mayhem

Itssoeasy

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Heard about it first on Ireland AM this morning. Simon Delaney was making the point that she broke the rules, straight away the two female presenters rounded on him. Their defense was ‘internet trolls’.

I hope she’s banned for a while.

Internet trolls didn't smash Serena racket into the ground and internet trolls didn't make Serena call the umpire a thief and a liar.

JP Liz V1

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Not fair on Naomi Osaka who won. People should be talking about her win and not the temper tantrum. An experienced and professional player like Serena Williams should and does know better.

Yes Osaka's win overshadowed

This is also Williams second big loss this year maybe she has peaked

Mental Mickey

Just seen it on the news. FFS she's a cretin.

alan partridge aha

She should be forced to apologise immediately or else face a long ban. What a piece of work she is.

Andrew Beef

Her behaviour was disgraceful. Fair play to the umpire for sticking to his guns. The “it’s because I’m a woman” stuff is laughable and to even mention race is pathetic. She threatened the guy FFS. I have never liked Serena; she has zero class.

seamusk84

ELM327 wrote: »

She's like lewis hamilton in F1 and any of the many black american football players.
When they win it's great but when they lose it's because they're black
Or god forgive, black and female.

She's had a hissy fit, you think she'd show some maturity and come out and admit as such. What sort of a crap example is this setting for her child.

To be fair Lewis Hamilton has never subscribed to that behavior. Sure he sulks and is petulant when he loses, but he never brings that into it.
He did once in jest, and it was blown out of all proportion by the media, but that was it.

BorneTobyWilde

The referee is the most pointless man in tennis. It's like having a referee for a referee in football. That man comes on and just fumbles about and walks off, maybe he could have cooled the situation, told umpire that he thinks she's not being coached, that it's a minor thing that happens in every match. That he should retract that remark and Serena should do they same with the thief remark, both say sorry, don't dock her a game and lets play on.
That would at least be something, but the referee is just a pointless guy who did nothing.

He done nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd9rACzLq-U

Collie D

Not the first time she's lost the head at an umpire while losing a US Open Final.

"You're an ugly person on in the inside and a loser. Don't forget you're in America now" I believe was the line the last time.

Players lose the head in sport. It's often not pretty but pressure can get to people. The decent thing to do afterwards is to hold your hands up afterwards, admit you lost the head, apologise and congratulate your opponent.

Ranting about standing up for women's rights is just a cop out and even worse, a cynical attempt to gain support for her behaviour by deflecting from it. Sadly, some commentators appear to have fallen for it.

A bad loser who instead of admitting being in the wrong clutched for any excuse.

Niles Crane

Most depressingly of all Serena Williams is going to come out of this as the big winner.

It seems like most of social media and people in the tennis world are taking her side on this thing despite her disgraceful behavior, I feel sorry for the umpire as he's probably going to end up losing out for simply doing his job properly.

It looks like nobody is going to call out Williams on this issue.

valoren

Calling the umpire a liar and a cheat? Perhaps Serena is doing a little psychological projection there I think. She has never carried herself with any dignity and that carry on vindicates that completely.

"I'm here fighting for women's rights and for women's equality and for all kinds of stuff."

No. You're hitting a ball over a net again and again and you got beaten at it while you acted like a petulant child. What a victim.

PropJoe10

Ridiculous behaviour from someone that's supposed to be a role model. She should come out and apologise or be banned for disrespecting officials. Sad for Osaka on her big day but congrats to her!

ebbsy

What an awful person she is.

KevRossi

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

. Also, it was her coach who committed the first offence, not here. He made a hand gesture. She may not have seen it, or, even if she had seen it, had no control over it. Penalise the coach, ban the coach, send the coach to he locker room in that case.

.

The rules in Grand Slam tournaments are very clear: No coaching.

Rule also states that it does not matter if the player has seen the coaching, it is the gesture from the coach that matters and that is the offence.

Montagu is her coach, he admitted in an interview after the match that he was coaching her,

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

It's a terrible thing to overshadow Osaka's historic victory. The coaching violation seems unfair but those are the rules and there's no comeback against the racket smash or verbal abuse.

But I don't agree with criticising her for dress code breaches or drug testing frequency. Tennis' dress code is incredibly outdated and is not necessary to play the sport to full advantage unlike other sports where the uniform suits the movement required. Female players should be allowed wear shorts or trousers if they so wish. Serena breached it for medical reasons anyway. The drug testing frequency is a legit complaint, if one athlete is tested at a far greater frequency than their peers it does warrant criticism and questions. Simone Biles who also happens to be a superb black athlete miles beyond her peers is and has been tested at an alarming frequency compared to her competitors.

Female players can wear shorts, Navaratilova wore shorts for years. Plaeyrs are also alllowed to wear tights etc under their clothing, so she could have worn that suit anyway.

Serena has her own clothing line and it is her biggest money spinner. She designs a lot of her own clothes and is known for showing up in alternative outfits. Which is fair enough, allowed and helps her support her brand (nothing wrong with that). Agassi did something similar with 'flamboyant' clothing.

However, various tournaments have various rules and the French open said no leotards or catsuits. Serena choose to jump on this, IMO probably to promote herself and her brand. It's more to do with marketing than racism.

Sultan of Bling

The umpire should sue her for defamation.

One successful case could finally put an end to these snowflakes whose sole objective when they wake up in the morning is to be offended by something.

mad muffin

What an insufferable cretin she is :rolleyes:

Mysterypunter

Tried to deflect the attention of a poor performance, bullied the umpire and her opponent, and cheated during the game by being coached from the sideline. Should be taken for what it was. Serena should retire if she doesn't like the game any more, its not set up for her benefit, no player is bigger than the game they play, even though lots think they are.

suicide_circus

she's exposed herself as a no-class graceless brat. let herself down badly.

DrWu

Sultan of Bling wrote: »

The umpire should sue her for defamation.

One successful case could finally put an end to these snowflakes whose sole objective when they wake up in the morning is to be offended by something.

Can't watch the news; Sky, TV3, BBC... inundated with pea-brained snowflakes. What the hell is wrong with people? No-one has personal responsibility for anything any more. It's always other people's fault...and usually people who are morally equivalent to Hitler because they don't respect Women or other races or gender fluidity or whatever. Everywhere you turn there are people moaning and whingeing about imaginary racial or sexist slurs and calling for public hangings as a result. And everyone seems to just go along with it as if it's normal. It's not normal folks. It's cultural neurosis.

The Talking Bread

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

The referee is the most pointless man in tennis. It's like having a referee for a referee in football. That man comes on and just fumbles about and walks off, maybe he could have cooled the situation, told umpire that he thinks she's not being coached, that it's a minor thing that happens in every match. That he should retract that remark and Serena should do they same with the thief remark, both say sorry, don't dock her a game and lets play on.
That would at least be something, but the referee is just a pointless guy who did nothing.

He done nothing

So, in laymans language......................you want the referee to allow Serena to commit a foul, to bully the umpire out of making the call (correct call), using victim antics, stirring the pathetic crowd and to disregard accusations of sexism by simply telling her to say a meaningless, non-sincere sorry. And we will then all live happily ever after.

Or am I missing something here?

This isn't a senior infants playground squabble.

MonkeyTennis

Can i just but in here and remind y'all she is one of the greatest sports stars that has ever existed.

Just sayin.

limnam

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Can i just but in here and remind y'all she is one of the greatest sports stars that has ever existed.

Just sayin.

That doesn't give you license to be a complete and utter d|ck.

Odhinn

suicide_circus wrote: »

look, if anything bad happens to a black woman it's obviously because of racism and sexism. there can be no other explanation.

Where has she mentioned race in this incident, might I ask?

The Talking Bread

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

Can i just but in here and remind y'all she is one of the greatest sports stars that has ever existed.

Just sayin.

Yes you can, but it is an utterly pointless post, given the context of the thread,

Itssoeasy

Also no hope in hell the wta fine or suspend her. Could you imagine the uproar ? How dare they punish her for standing up for women's rights(which is important but not what happened here) and her daughter ?

alchemist33

Odhinn wrote: »

Where has she mentioned race in this incident, might I ask?

It's only day one yet. Give her a chance

SouthDublin6w

Shes dirt always have been.

If any long time Tennis fans are here she used the exact same arguement against Clijsters after a foot fault.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNwc7o_0Sgg

Arbitrary

I imagine the umpire has about 500 messages from lawyers offering legal advice.

The outburst, okay, people get emotional with such high stakes involved. I can appreciate that.

Providing they accept, that on reflection, they clearly acted like an asshat. I can accept that apology.

When you double down, that's when you start to look like a real grade A clown with a delusional sense of entitlement.

johnpatrick81

Seems pretty simple to me. She’s right. Men have said far worse and gotten away with it.

Did she see the coaching? Only she knows.

A game penalty seems insane. In a final. Of a grand slam.

Stupid umpire.