FTR, it was 5-6 in the 2nd set, not 4-5.
I read her lips as saying “I’ll take this fing ball and shove it down your f*ing throat”, all while pointing the racket at the judge.
Same here, only you know, without the asteriskses.
Did the lineswoman say “kiss my assterisk?”
lmao! I hope so.
That was just plain ugly. I think the linesperson was wrong and I think Serena over reacted. I am sure it was more the total frustration of not playing well all match, but she definitely lost it.
Do the men ever get a code violation for breaking their racquets?
That is indeed what she said. They showed it later with audio; no lip reading required. The “fucks” were bleeped.
When Serena approached the chair, she was saying “I’ll kill you?! I never said I’ll kill you! I never said that. I never said that.” During the postgame press conference, Serena was asked what she was saying she never said. Serena wouldn’t repeat any particulars, but said that when she said “I never said that”, the linesman agreed that Serena didn’t say the specific words Serena was refuting. The linesman explained that the violation was something else Serena said, so Serena was like, okay, fine.
I’ll give Serena props for facing the media immediately, but I thought it was pretty classless the way she downplayed Clijsters. She copped to playing a bad match, with “more errors this match than the whoe rest of my tournament combined.” And that Clijsters came in with a great plan, and Serena is glad she played Kim because now she knows what to expect from Kim and will be able to beat her next time.
She seemed incapable of admitting that Kim outplayed her. I got the impression that Serena doesn’t think much of Kim, that Kim was actually irrelevant to Serena’s loss, and Kim will never beat her in the future. The only thing Kim had going for her was “a great plan.” She repeated the “she came in with a great plan” several times. The clear implication was that Kim is no match for Serena, but due to clever game planning she managed to put together a competive match.
Would it have killed Serena to admit the truth? Kim flat-out outplayed Serena, and even without the foot fault Kim would have won the match anyway. Or a simple “Kim earned the win.” Sadly, no kudos were forthcoming, and poor Clijsters could now have her well-earned storybook comeback marred by an undeserved asterisk.
CBS replay does indeed let us hear (softly) “I’ll take the fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat!”
Even without the outburst, Kim was up a set and would have had two match points, so I think it should be remembered as a very legitimate Clijsters victory.
The foot fault was a horrible HORRIBLE call, though. You just don’t do that at 15-30, 2 points away from the match, unless her foot’s like a foot inside the line or something. If even the instant replay is inconclusive, you don’t call that shit. Neither player wanted it, as even Kim knows it would taint her victory. And the crowd REALLY didn’t want it. Would have been nice to see a the reaction of everyone to Kim winning an actual match point.
Serena melting down was just as stupid, as she’s come back down two break points before, and even two match points. She could easily have made a fine three-set match out of this, using her anger against the lineswoman as fuel to push her game to the next level, in the style of Connors against Krickstein.
How many different types of meltdowns have we seen in the women’s side this U.S. Open (though to be fair, the men have had a few, like Gonzalez’s strange non-appearance at the continuation of his match)? Sheesh. Good on Clijsters, who has been the most mentally tough and stable woman in the entire tournament.
Yes. John McEnroe apparently got DQ’d from a major for similar behavior. He was visibly pissed that he had to rehash that as they came back from commercial break.
Also, keep in mind that it takes two code violations to be penalized a single point, so they could hand out a code violation every single match and you’d never notice. It just so happened that Serena was penalized for acting like a child twice in the match, and the second time was on match point.
Yeah, Serena should have gone about her rage in a different way. You can insult the lineswoman, but she should have done it by questioning her competence, her vision, her idiocy, etc. instead of threatening her. That’s just dumb. And that rage could easily have been channeled into two more big serves to get to deuce; she had just hit two aces in a row one or two games ago!
Even without the foot fault, Kim was winning that match, almost certainly in that very game. Serena had no first serve, and was only winning 33% of her second serves. The game before she managed three or four aces, but the first few serves of that game she was right back to having no serve. That match was over anyway.
Personally, I think Serena knew Kim was going to win and decided to take the penalty point instead of letting Kim beat her fair and square. Then again, I very much dislike the Williams sisters, so I’m biased to view Serena in the worst possible light.
I really don’t think Serena works like that. That foot fault was definitely not intentional, and she was clearly fighting hard up until that point. And her reaction is very much keeping in line with Serena’s demonstrated personality. She’d just broken her racket in anger that very match! And she’d glared down a lineswoman for half a minute for a foot fault in an earlier match where it was insignificant; she would have no problem winning that match irregardless. In a situation where the foot fault would lead to two match points, yeah, Serena would blow up. She’s no Zen master, that one.
I’m really glad that this wasn’t the finals, as having that happen on Championship Point would suck. Kim should have a nice victory lap against Wozniacki, who, for all of her steady competence and composure, should not pose much of a threat to Clijsters.
Put me in the camp that a foot fault is a foot fault is a foot fault. It doesn’t matter if it is at match point or up 5 games to 1 in the first set. It is a rule and rules should be applied equally no matter what the situation.
Serena had just been called for a Foot Fault a couple games prior, on the other baseline.
Could it have been the same lineswoman? Do they rotate positions?
Oh yeah, and I’m pissed that I didn’t get to watch a friggin’s US Open semifinal match between two hot chicks because it wasn’t friggin’ televised. That’s some bogus shit right there. At least the cuter of the two advanced to the finals.
The timing is irrelevant. If you see a foot fault, you call it, no matter what point of the match it is on. What you are saying is similar to saying that you don’t call a ball out at a crucial point unless it is “like a foot out or something.”
Whether the specific incident was a foot fault or not is another matter, but the stage of the match should play no part in the decision.
They swap out the whole team for a whole new team periodically. They don’t rotate linespeople within the same team.
I was talking about the penalty point, not the foot fault. I mean that once she got called for the foot fault, she was now down two match points. She got ready to serve, then stopped, turned around, walked toward the linesman, (weird term when it’s a woman, but that’s what everyone called her,) and threatened her with bodily harm. Then she went back to the line, got ready to serve, stopped, turned around again, walked toward the linesman and yelled at her some more.
Seemed to me like a calculated move to save face. This quickie report sums it up nicely:
No, Sunday is one of the (usually annoying) reality show staples: clip show of previously unaired footage. That makes it extremely pre-emptable. The live finale airs Tuesday night, so if the clip show doesn’t air Sunday, it will likely never air.
This is the first and only reality show clip show that I have ever wanted to see, and I really want to see it.
Perhaps it’s because I think foot faults are a silly way to lose a point. Whether a ball is in or out should be officiated very exactly, since it’s either one player gains the point, or the other does. However, the reasoning behind foot faults is to make sure a player is not getting an unfair advantage in coming in to net, so if it’s a question of a few millimeters, it should never, ever be called. Serena wasn’t even coming in to net, so it’s clear she wasn’t trying to abuse this. Let the players’ play decide the points, not stupid rules violations that don’t even put a player at a competitive advantage or disadvantage. At most, foot faults should just be a replay of the point; having to serve again is penalty enough.
So yeah, a rules lawyer would enforce every little insignificant thing harshly, but in this case, it’s not good for the players, the fans, or the game.
Even if you don’t come in to net, being able to serve closer than the serving line is an unfair advantage. I wouldn’t have called it if I were the linesman, and I don’t like Serena. But I can’t begrudge calling a foul a foul. When the match is on the line, it’s not up to the official to go out of their way to enable the players, it’s up to the players to go out of their way to stay within the rules.
But was it even a foul? I couldn’t get a conclusive read either way on the blown-up view. Looked like it maybe possibly could have been if you squinted, but I dunno. That linesman must have hated Serena something fierce.