Tennis: Serena gets off easy, just this once

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 14, 2011

By Jim Litke
Associated Press
A day after losing the U.S. Open final, Serena Williams was hit with a $2,000 fine for berating the chair umpire during her match against Samantha Stosur. It seemed like an open-and-shut case.
Yet anytime Williams is involved ó to paraphrase a Tina Turner riff ó things never go ěnice and easy.î
Former tennis great Chris Evert, one of only three women in the open era to win more majors than Williams (18 to 13), said she ěwas so surprised how disrespectful and rudeî Williams was to umpire Eva Asderaki and called the $2,000 hit ělike dinner for Serena.î
Evert wasnít far off, considering the runner-upís share in the final was $900,000, and that Williams came into the tournament already well north of $20 million in career earnings. But more interesting than whether the fine was too light for Williams is whether itís enough to be effective for any player in an era when prize money has climbed into the stratosphere. More interesting still might be whether any other player ó man or woman ó would have been fined for saying so little.
For background purposes, this is the short version of how tournament referee Brian Earley settled on $2,000 after talking the matter over with several Grand Slam and U.S. Tennis Association officials. The standard fine for run-of-the-mill verbal abuse is $1,500; the maximum is $10,000. A few of those officials described Williamsí outburst Sunday as something worthy of a ěfourth-graderî but not a fine. But because this is hardly the first time Williams has acted out, and because her memorable 2009 U.S. Open tirade was anything but run-of-the-mill ó ěIf I could, I would take this … ball and shove it down your … throat,î she menacingly shouted at a line judge at one point ó a consensus eventually emerged to treat her like a repeat offender. Thus, the extra $500.
Nothing Williams said this time around was remotely obscene or threatening. It began soon after Williams, already down a set and facing a break of serve in the second, yelled ěCome on!î to pump herself up after rocketing an apparent winner against Stosur. Because her opponent somehow managed to get a racket on the ball ó though she wasnít close to returning it ó the umpire invoked the hindrance rule and awarded the point to Stosur, putting the Australian ahead 1-0 in that set. Williams then launched volley after verbal volley at Asderaki.
ěIf you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way, because youíre out of control. … Youíre a hater, and youíre just unattractive inside. Who would do such a thing? … Give me a code violation because I expressed my emotion? Weíre in America last time I checked. Really, donít even look at me, donít look my way.î
Williams didnít shake hands with Asderaki after the match, though she was gracious in defeat and toward Stosur before and while the hardware was being handed out. Afterward, she said only, ěI guess Iíll see it on YouTube.î
Itís worth a look, since lost in the ensuing controversy was perhaps the most interesting moment of all. By all rights, Stosur should not have even reached the shot, and if she hadnít, the umpire almost certainly doesnít call hindrance. Itís a tribute not just to how well she was playing, but how unruffled. When the point ends, she simply heads for the deuce court and prepares to play the next point.
ěEverything was happening so fast,î Stosur said in an interview on the ěEarly Showî a day later. ěI was just trying to get the ball and before I knew it, then there was all of that commotion up at the net. I just tried to think about what I was doing for the next point and get on with it, really.î
Williams took plenty of heat for deflecting the spotlight, but Stosur didnít seem bothered by that, either. In her postmatch news conference, she lauded Williams: ěSerena, you are a fantastic player, great champion and have done wonders for our sport.î
That message wasnít wasted on tournament officials. Because of her 2009 tirade, Williams was initially fined the maximum ó $10,000 ó then bumped all the way up to $82,500 after a review and placed on probation for the 2010 and 2011 Grand Slam seasons. Another major violation would have barred her from the next U.S. Open.
TV ratings for this final were up 121 percent from last year, when Kim Clijsters beat Vera Zvonareva. No one else moves the needle the way Williams does. Not top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, who has yet to win a grand slam, nor the women who won majors ó Clijsters at the Australian, Li Na at the French and Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon ó while Williams was recuperating from a career-threatening foot injury and life-threatening blood clots.
All that attention, needless to say, comes with a price. During Sundayís outburst, Williams yelled at Asderaki, ěArenít you the one who screwed me over the last time I was here? You have it out for me?î
The answer to both questions was no. But itís not hard to see where sometimes, Williams might feel that way.
óóó
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org. Follow him at http://twitter.com/JimLitke.
The Associated Press
09/14/11 11:19