Oh my goodness! There we were yesterday watching the women's U.S. Open final when we were both dumbfounded and completely blown away. If you live under a rock and have not heard the controversy surrounding Serena Williams let me tell you it was quite unbelievable and sad!
We watched it all play out live in real time. The highlights we've seen of her meltdown do not capture the full sore loser embarrassing disgust that took place. If you are completely lost about what I'm talking about go look for some videos on Youtube, search "Serena Williams US Open 2018". I will also post a link at the bottom of this post to an ESPN video from Youtube. In my opinion despite all she has done in the sport of tennis it does not warrant her to act a fool! Her actions should not be dismissed. She completely tarnished her opponent's Grand Slam victory. That poor girl was crying at the trophy ceremony and apologizing to the crowd after they kept booing her for winning. A terrible display by an American athlete and a terrible display by the American crowd. Embarrassing!
For those that are sick of this subject or not interested stop reading here! Because I'm about to explain in better detail the infractions by Serena that caused the most epic meltdown in tennis history.
1...Her coach gave her signals from the player's box. And it was clear she followed those signals as we watched her do so! Now, any type of "coaching" from the player's box is not permitted in Grand Slams. Period! As a result Serena received a violation. She was mad she received a violation. She took it to a weird level and started throwing words like "cheat" and "cheater" around. Trying to say she'd rather lose than "cheat".
2...She continued to not let the first matter go and continued to run her mouth off and on. She then got frustrated about a few missed shots she made and she smashed her racquet...violation #2 came her way. As tennis players are not allowed to smash their racquet. Same as in football, players are not allowed to spike the ball in an aggressive manner or their team gets penalized. Same goes for basketball! Anyway, she then became even more argumentative. Those two violations together meant she lost a point. Her arguing continued, as she started demanding an apology from the umpire. She then went on to name call the umpire.
3....Thanks to her name calling she was soon penalized a 3rd time for verbal abuse of the umpire. The penalty was now the lose of a full game not just a point. That's when the match was briefly stopped because she demanded to talk to higher powers than the match umpire. Nothing was changed by the two higher powers that came out to talk to her and the umpire. All the violations stayed in place. The match continued and was over pretty quick after that.
No matter the violations that cost her the point and then a full game, she still was getting outplayed by the young Japanese phenom, Naomi Osaka. It's just sad she stole such a happy moment from Osaka. When the match ended it was a bit of a somber feel that spread through the stadium. Not much of a reaction from the winner. Osaka sat in her chair with a towel over her head for awhile. A moment that should have been so joyous was completely subdued. Booing by fans swept thru the stadium off and on. By the time the trophy presentation occurred the crowd was still booing and the winner was crying. Osaka kept her head down part of the time at times pulling at her hat to keep it low. At one point young Osaka apologized to the American crowd for winning the match. After a string of non classy behavior Serena did do one good thing by asking the crowd to stop booing the winner. But in my opinion one good move by her doesn't erase the many horrible displays she showed during the match. In Serena's post match press conference, she was composed but still no apology for her actions. Plus she turned it into a sexist issue. As a female and an avid tennis watcher...I'm not buying the sexism claim!
I think it's also worth noting Serena's coach did admit when he was interviewed that he was indeed coaching her from the box. And that brief little coaching is what started the entire meltdown of his player, Serena. Okay, so the coach admitted he was coaching her from the box. Which is against the rules, and thereby could be seen as "cheating". What gets me about the whole thing is that Serena is the one that started throwing the word "cheat" around not the umpire. It was Serena that stated if she was getting coaching from the box that would be "cheating". But yet Serena is still claiming she doesn't "cheat". Hmm!
Video link from ESPN is below, it's been pieced together over the course of the issues. Might I add I have a hard time listening to the American commentators when it comes to Serena, they are so forgiving of her it's sickening...especially Chris Evert, she has slurped the Williams sisters Kool-Aid for years now! So there's my disclaimer for the commentating! :)
Here's link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiBrForlj-k
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