Wimbledon and Bias

Thanks, Engineer. I have come to really admire both sisters over time. The criticisms of them always seem so reaching and disingenuous to me.

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Quote:

Serena Williams was upset on Sunday at the 2011 U.S. Open. Adding insult to injury, the United States Tennis Association has issued a $2,000 fine for Williams' comments to the umpire during her loss to Samantha Stosur.

Williams could have potentially been banned considering she was still on probation stemming from a similar incident in 2009 during a match with Kim Clijsters, but it was apparently decided this didn't violate her probation and instead got by with a seemingly very small simple slap on the wrist.

"This fine is consistent with similar offenses at Grand Slam events," the U.S. Tennis Association said in a statement, according to Bloomberg News. "After independently reviewing the incident which served as the basis for the code violation, and taking into account the level of fine imposed by the U.S. Open referee, the Grand Slam Committee director has determined that Ms. Williams's conduct, while verbally abusive, does not rise to the level of a major offense under the Grand Slam Code of Conduct."

The comments Williams made were picked up by the television broadcast, magnifying the incident, but it's likely she probably would have been fined regardless for the following comments to the umpire:

"Aren't you the one who screwed me over last time here? I promise you, that's not cool. That's totally not cool."
"If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way, because you're totally out of control. You're a hater and unattractive inside."
Williams could still face more fines. Considering it was determined she didn't violate her probation, however, she'll probably be fine with that.

http://newyork.sbnation.com/2011/9/12/2421110/serena-williams-us-open-2011-fined-not-banned

The Williams sisters have certainly earned their reputations for not playing nice with others....

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@hawkeye10,

I live in NY and I was in the stadium for that match - about one hour, shortest I've ever watched. Ms Williams was a disgrace from start to finish, the Australian woman being a massively superior player, first, and the fans (both US blacks - the rest of us wouldn't boo the Australian - and rowdy Australians of no discernible color) got so ugly that security had to walk down the aisles in the stadium telling them to calm down.Yelling and harassing the referee was yet another nail in the coffin of that ugly player - the whole stadium (ovcrwhelmingly American) got up and cheered when the Australian woman won.

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@High Seas,

I think the worse is (if I read this right) that later she admitted that she was just out to try to pump herself up, that she knew she was going to get beat and was trying to do something about it....I read that as she giving herself permission to be abusive towards others , and it is even more ugly when this abuse takes the form of playing the victim card (as she clearly did with the judge, she asserted that she was being victimized by a "hater")

Has there been an apology? Has there been even two words indicating contrition?

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Yes it's a shame these blacks can't stay down on the plantation. Messing up all the pretty games and stuff. What were they thinking, to let animalistic pigs into civilized society.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

Yes it's a shame these blacks can't stay down on the plantation. Messing up all the pretty games and stuff. What were they thinking, to let animalistic pigs into civilized society.

these girls have always had the option to learn some class, there are plenty of good role models in tennis and the other business that they conduct....they have willfully chosen to not do that.

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@edgarblythe,

Are you sure the reason you want to give her a pass for her bad behavior is because she is black, it is not because she is a woman, or that she is rich (earns $10-20 million a year pending on if she decides to play tennis or not)?

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I'm confused. We get to be racist if we don't like Serena's behaviors?

I think that in itself is racist by proxy.

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@High Seas,

That was very sporting of them.

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I just like to watch good tennis. I don't mind that the players have emotions and are passionate about playing hard, that's sports. But the ability to maintain your self control even in the midst of heated emotions is a requirement that should be expected of all people, not just athletes. And attacking the referee's and judges of a sport is just the lowest of behaviors. I've played tennis and racket-ball and other sports for years, and bad line calls happen, it's just a part of the game. You need to suck it up and move on. If a player asserts that they are being systematically mis-judged in the game, then that's a complaint that needs to happen off the court and taken up with the administrators. It's not something that should be dragged into the game itself.

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@snood,

I agree with you

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@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

The Williams sisters have certainly earned their reputations for not playing nice with others....

Sorry, that is absolutely not true. Serena Williams has earned a rep for not playing nice with others. Venus Williams has an outstanding reputation for sportsmanship, promotion of the sport and quietly working behind the scenes in representing player interests in the tennis community. I doubt you could find a more respected player. (Sorry I'm a year late responding.) Smile

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@engineer,

I agree. I was sad to see Venus Williams lose Thursday evening --- and I was supposed to support Angelique Kerber, the German she lost to. Venus played a great game, lost by a hair, and was gracious in her defeat. If she ever threw the kind of hissy fits that her sister did, I'm not aware of any.

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Wimbledon and Bias

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