FROM NEW YORK — Let's get right to the point. Serena Williams should be fined heavily and suspended for a while from the pro tennis tour.
Let's see what kind of guts the normally soft-on-discipline sport of tennis has this time. If she were an Oregon football player, she'd be out for the season.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, September 14, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
Tennis: Bill Dwyre's column in Sunday's Sports section about Serena Williams' loss in the U.S. Open semifinals said Williams' outburst at a lineswoman began when she was called for a foot fault on her first serve at 15-40. In fact, Williams was called for a foot fault on her second serve at 15-30.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, September 20, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 55 words Type of Material: Correction
Tennis: Bill Dwyre's column in the Sept. 13 Sports section about Serena Williams' loss in the U.S. Open semifinals said Williams' outburst at a lineswoman began when she was called for a foot fault on her first serve at 15-40. In fact, Williams was called for a foot fault on her second serve at 15-30.
If you saw it on television, you know what happened, you know that she made a fool out of herself Saturday night in an ugly incident at the U.S. Open. If you didn't see it, we'll confirm it:
Serena Williams made a fool out of herself Saturday night in an ugly incident at the U.S. Open.
The quick details are:
* She was given a point penalty on match point, which meant she lost her semifinal to Kim Clijsters, 6-4, 7-5.
* She was given the point penalty because, after a linesperson called a foot fault on her first serve at 15-40, she went over to the linesperson, shook her fist at her, and from just several feet away, said, according to several witnesses courtside, "You don't know me. You better be right. I could shove this ball down your throat." Interspersed with this were several F-bombs.
* The lineswoman was called to the chair umpire to report what had been said. The chair umpire had given Williams a warning/code violation at the end of the first set, when Williams smashed her racket to the court and broke it. That is a routine call for chair umpires. A second violation called from the chair is loss of a point, a third loss of the match. Williams' second violation was on match point.
* The point violation was assessed after a conference around the umpire's chair that included chair umpire Louise Engzell, tournament referee Brian Earley, the unidentified lineswoman and Williams. During that confab, Williams was overheard on TV microphones as denying she had threatened to kill the lineswoman.
Quickly, Williams was tossing her racket on her bag and walking to the back of the court, where a confused Clijsters spread her palms open as if to say, "What's going on?" and then accepted Williams' handshake and short hug.
Since the days of John McEnroe and maybe Ilie Nastase, there hasn't been much of this in tennis. This might have gone well beyond those days in severity.
It was on network television, in one of the most-anticipated matches of the entire tournament. Millions watched.
It went well beyond the McEnroe tirade stage into body language and direct verbiage that was threatening and ugly.
