Why is Serena being allowed to play doubles today?

durito · 09-14-09, 12:29 PM

Two weeks ago while teeing off on the one tee that had no video cameras after a shitty shot Tiger started screaming expletives and threw his driver some 50 feet.

He is hardly a good sport many times.

InThisMoment · 09-14-09, 12:35 PM

Cursing at yourself because you are mad at your play, while a poor example, is not nearly as egregious as cursing and threatening an official of play regardless of a call right or wrong.

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 12:39 PM

Originally posted by InThisMoment

Cursing at yourself because you are mad at your play, while a poor example, is not nearly as egregious as cursing and threatening an official of play regardless of a call right or wrong.

Agreed. But tennis has always been "soft" in terms of handling situations like this. They' don't have the stones to sit her down.

Justin7 · 09-14-09, 12:42 PM

Did you all ever watch McEnroe? I learned the whole unsportsmanlike penalty structure from his matches... Warning, point, game and match loss for fourth. He was always getting penalized a couple times a match, but kept his cool before having a match tossed.

Williams lost her cool. She paid a penalty (a point and a fine). It's done. Move on.

EaglesPhan36 · 09-14-09, 12:45 PM

Agree with Justin. Sounds like someone was watching too much CBS/ESPN coverage because they seem to be the only ones who keep harping on the Serena thing. Besides, the Williams sisters are a draw, no way in hell they would split them up in the finals and risk any sort of backlash because then this goes into more of a race thing.

daggerkobe · 09-14-09, 12:48 PM

Because they don't want to issue refunds.

Katasstrophe · 09-14-09, 12:49 PM

I have to take the other side here.

The call was as bad as it could be. You just don't make that call, in that place in the match, on as important of a point as that was. I watched the replay a bunch and if there was a foot fault I can't see it. Just rediculous.

As far as Serena goes she did react badly and got rough with the ref. Again in my opinion losing the match because of it is plenty punishment.

To me the bigger problem is incompetent umps/refs in all sports. They just suck. I can name 5 examples where horrible calls by refs cost college and pro teams games this week.

That lady who called that foot fault should be the one who apologizes and should never be allowed to work another tennis match.

Willie Bee · 09-14-09, 12:52 PM

I agree with EaglesPhan who agrees with Justin7.

daggerkobe · 09-14-09, 12:52 PM

Umps/refs make mistakes.

But the ones in the Fed-Djoker match were ridiculous. I believe Djoker had 4 of 5 calls reversed via challenges due to horrible calls in the first set alone!

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by Willie Bee

I agree with EaglesPhan who agrees with Justin7.

I don't agree with Justin (in all due respect). Neither McEnroe or Connors threatened to kill an official they disagreed with. The death treat can't be tolerated.

jjgold · 09-14-09, 12:59 PM

Eagles hit on head

they want no part with Williams and race issue

they would bury tour

What she did was not bad and like many pros have said they never saw her so mad.

Williams is great for womens tennis

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 01:06 PM

womens sports is mess. The LPGA has become the asian tour and tennis ..well you saw it this weekend. Am I the only one who finds watching womens sports difficult?

EaglesPhan36 · 09-14-09, 01:11 PM

Remember John Chaney of Temple going after Calipari in a news conference. Dude said he'd kill Coach Cal. Chaney still goes down as one of the most respected hard ass coaches in college basketball. I think everyone is entitled to making a mistake like this in the heat of the moment. She didn't physically hit anyone, she totally lost her mind, so have a lot of people for a lot less.

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 01:15 PM

I remember the Chaney v. Calipari incident. And I can't tell you how many wins or NCAA tournament appearances he had. The only thing I'll remember about the guy is that moment.

Dad · 09-14-09, 01:20 PM

Serena is a non-issue. John McEnroe branded himself and made a killing by doing the same thing.

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 01:24 PM

So if it's a young black guy who goes ballistic it's worth a years suspension, but if it's a black womens tennis superstar it's a piddly ass fine?

Shark79 · 09-14-09, 01:25 PM

She already got penalized on the singles match ... Let her play ... they are destroying these chicks in doubles. Amazing

Shark79 · 09-14-09, 01:26 PM

Originally posted by BobHarvey

So if it's a young black guy who goes ballistic it's worth a years suspension, but if it's a black womens tennis superstar it's a piddly ass fine?

As EP mentioned it ... John McEnroe did it numerous times ... nothing ever happened, why now.

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 01:27 PM

See my above thread. Mac' never threatened to kill anybody.

Shark79 · 09-14-09, 01:29 PM

he didnt have to ... his body language pretty much summed up his words.

EaglesPhan36 · 09-14-09, 01:30 PM

I guess part of my point about a suspension is tennis is a different animal than most sports because there isn't necessarily a string of games set to be played like in football or basketball where you can say this person is suspended for 5 games. Let's say hypothetically if the match wasn't decided because of the point penalty and Serena came back and won? You think she is going to be suspended for the Championship Match? Hell no. For tennis, a fine is about the most you can do unless you bar someone from playing for a month or something like that, but is that really a suspension for someone like Serena who doesn't play every tournament?

BobHarvey · 09-14-09, 01:34 PM

EP,

That's a good point about tennis suspensions.

Shark79 · 09-14-09, 01:37 PM

Originally posted by EaglesPhan36

I guess part of my point about a suspension is tennis is a different animal than most sports because there isn't necessarily a string of games set to be played like in football or basketball where you can say this person is suspended for 5 games. Let's say hypothetically if the match wasn't decided because of the point penalty and Serena came back and won? You think she is going to be suspended for the Championship Match? Hell no. For tennis, a fine is about the most you can do unless you bar someone from playing for a month or something like that, but is that really a suspension for someone like Serena who doesn't play every tournament?

How bout a suspension for following Grand Slam?

EaglesPhan36 · 09-14-09, 01:43 PM

The other thing I think that would make sense is figuring out a points penalty for the rankings system. Maybe dock her X amount of points, her ranking drops, she gets a tougher draw next tournament.

DacBietViet · 09-14-09, 01:44 PM

InThisMoment · 09-14-09, 02:47 PM

Some good posts here.

The tournament officials had an easy out since it was a point deduction on match point. Were it not match point and they disqualified here that would have carried over to doubles. We will never know if they would have done that.

To me there is a huge difference between ranting about a call like McEnroe and calling somebody a name than making direct threats towards an official (it is indisputable that Serena said "I will take this ball and shove it down your ****ing throat".

In soccer that would be red card, next game suspension, plus review and more immediately. In the NBA most likely an immediate ejection and suspension. The NFL, honestly I don't know.

Many of these rules were put in place precisely because of what McEnroe, Connors to a lesser extent, and Nastase (see the 1979 US Open match) did.

I really don't think it's a question of if she will be suspended. Pretty sure that will happen. It's a matter of when. They say they need time to go through the legal process when essentially it was out there in its ugliness for all the world to see.

InThisMoment · 09-14-09, 02:48 PM

BTW, How long was Chaney suspended for his outburst? I also remember him sending a goon out against St. Joe's (?) and breaking a guy's arm (?). Think the player was suspended for the year, IIRC.