No Excuses, Serena!

Remember when we all found out that the Patriots are cheaters and we finally had a legit reason to hate them? Well, this is exactly how I feel about Serena Williams’ loss today at the US Open. I have never liked Serena, and I have never rooted for her. I have always found her pompous yet somehow classless at the same time. I realize it’s impossible to dispute her incredible athleticism and she’s unarguably among the best tennis players in the world. I think she’s a little schmanly, but she’s clearly in great shape and Playboy wanted her picture so someone out there must find her pretty attractive. I’ll go ahead and dive into the deep end and even say that she has a nice, cheery smile, but the general brazen attitude of the entire Williams family has always rubbed me the wrong way.

For full discloser, I have spent 21 of my nearly 26 years playing tennis and was raised by a tennis pro. This being the case, it will come to no one’s surprised that I have encountered more than my fair share of snobby and confident tennis players. While, tennis and snobbery go hand in hand, and well, confidence is a must if you intend to be among the best in any sport, Serena takes both to a new level. To better make my point, I will have to redefine the word “snobbery” in Williams’ terms, which is quite different than that defined by…saaayyy Roger Federer. Roger makes it clear you know he’s better than you. I would describe his arrogance in a more classical sense. Even his serve has an air of pretension, and his graciousness is enough to make you puke. Serena on the other hand, displays her egotism by filming reality T.V. shows, buying crappy football teams, and blaming losses on injuries and stupid mistakes. God FORBID her opponent actually outplays her!

(Note: I do not dislike Roger Federer. I just thought the comparison would help make my point. He’s the best player in tennis, and to be honest, his nauseating courteousness after a match does seem pretty genuine (even if it does result in some minor gagging). He is pretty snooty though. I mean - he's Swiss…)

On to the issue at hand…[If you didn’t see/hear/read about Serena Williams typical display of sportsmanship during her semifinals match at the US Open, here’s the short story short. Down 15-30 and 5-6 after losing the 1st set, Serena was essentially 2 points away from losing the match. At this point, she is called for a foot fault on her 2nd serve, and is now just 1 point away from losing the match. In her defense, looked like a bogus call, but in classic Serena fashion, she loses control and starts yelling at the line judge. She allegedly says, “If I could, I would take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat and kill you.” Who knows what she really said, but her gestures were enough to warrant a penalty. Because she had been issued a warning after losing the first set for slamming her racquet against the ground, her second penalty resulted in a point to Clijsters, which, combined with her foot fault (bad call or not), ended the match. Williams was also later fined $10,500]

In my eyes, this behavior devalues your opponent’s win. It says “you did not win this point” “you did not win this match” “I fucked up!” “I lost it!” In other words “fuck you.” Sure, this happens in sports, we’ve all seen it, just ask a Mets fan. But the fact is, no one shows up to play Serena Williams hoping she’s going to fuck up and “let you win.” Kim Clijsters played an amazing match and deserved to win, but in the end, it’s a win with an asterisks. Is that fair? I dare say not.

To be honest, in my opinion it was inevitable that Serena was going to lose the match. She was clearly losing focus, and Clijsters was playing phenomenally. Serena knew this, consciously or not, and this is probably why she lost it on the court in the first place. Regardless, Serena has trained harder, longer and to a completely different level than I ever did growing up, and if I had ever behaved this way I would still be running laps as punishment. That said, the match wasn't actually over yet. Had she just shut her trap and served the ball, maybe she could have won... And more importantly, had she made it to the finals and won the Open she would have tied Billie Jean King’s Grand Slam title record. Does this make her even more brainless for flipping out? I think so; but needless to say, I'm happy to see Billie Jean retain her title. Especially if the alternative is sharing it with Serena.

So my words to Serena: No excuses! Next time, try losing with a little maturity and class. I do not care if you have 11 singles Grand Slam titles. I don’t really care about your Olympic gold medals. And you know what!? I don’t even care that you own the Miami Dolphins! There are NO excuses for acting like petulant child! I watch hockey for the death threats, tennis for the cute, furry, green balls.