Serena Williams foot fault
Serena Williams’s foot fault controversy
Serena Williams lost her semi-final match at the US Open 2009 against Kim Clijsters in a controversial way. The ending to the Serena Williams/Kim Clijsters match at the U.S. Open Saturday night was certainly a strange one. Serena was 4-6, 5-6 and 15:30 down when she served a second serve and it was called a foot fault by the line judge.
The foot fault gave Clijsters the point, making it 15-40 and double match point. Since the foot fault was so ill-timed, Serena Williams went off on the line judge who called the fault. Serena a few seconds later she exploded and threateaningly wawed her racquet towards the line judge and definitely said a few harsh words.
The line judge was encouraged by the chair umpire to tell what Serena said and it seemed like Serena said that “I will kill you…”, or something like that.
Actually, this wasn’t an isolated incident in the match, Serena lost her temper after losing the first set and she smashed her racket, receiving a code violation warning in the process. Even though Serena was in the wrong in that situation, she also clearly foot faulted on that serve but was never called.
Brian Earley, as the tournament referee was called in and according to the rules if the player threatens or curses towards any of the umpires, he or she gets a warning. Since Serena already had a warning because she smashed her racquet previously in the match, her next warning meant a penalty point.
Brian Earley calmly explained the situation to Serena, and since it was 15:40, that meant the end of the match. Serena Williams then quickly walked to Clijsters, congratulated her and walked off the court.
As far as Serena’s behavior, it was totally inappropriate and she really crossed the line with the ref, but didn’t tennis let Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe get away with berating refs for years?
Watch Serena Williams’s Tirade
Watch Serena Williams smashes tennis racket
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One Response to “Serena Williams foot fault”
By Norm on Sep 13, 2009 | Reply
A foot fault call like that at a critical point of the game , get real ! Kim would have won anyways and I feel most for her because the moment was stolen by poor judging. Athletes react like this all the time when stupid calls are made at the worst possible moment. They should have tested this volunteer first, for game knowledge, and the chair should have taken more leadership.