Me, Watching Tennis

Me, Watching Tennis
Me, Watching Tennis

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Are You SERIOUS?

I have been watching tennis since I was a little kid and I have never seen a debacle like the end of the Clijsters v. Williams match.

Clijsters played a wonderful match and no one can take that from her. The way she dismantled Serena's impressive serve was, well, impressive. I'm fairly certain Kim is going to wipe the court with Wozniacki tomorrow night. Serena and Kim will definitely meet again. I'm excited for women's tennis next year.

Still. If I were Serena, and a foot fault was called on me at that point in the set when she was already down 15-30, I too would have told the linesperson I was going to shove the racket down her fucking throat. I would have likely said some other impolite things as well. Tennis players behave badly on court all the time. I'm baffled as to why the officials chose to use the US Open semifinals as a forum for making an example. I think this is going to turn into a big hot mess come Monday (seeing how there was NO foot fault) and I also think if it were one of the popular players on tour who had behaved badly, the point penalty would not have been assessed.

Still, my favorite part of the match was watching the press conference afterward when Serena was trying to be calm and mature. It was definitely an award-winning performance. I particularly appreciate that she acknowledged how well Kim had played and that she was defiant and not too apologetic about her conduct. I love her even more today than I did yesterday. Bitch is fierce.

2 comments:

alan rossi said...

awesome, i just found this tennis blog! anyway, the foot fault thing sucked, was a terrible call, but that doesn't mean serena should've reacted that way. of course, we all would have wanted to yell terrible, ugly, threatening things, but tennis has etiquette sort of built in. she should've controlled herself. it's okay to get upset, to say something, or argue, but she did take it pretty far. either way, disappointing from both 'professionals', i'd say: a terrible foot fault call, and very poorly controlled emotions by serena (who i was really hoping would win the entire thing (i mean, dinara safina number 1?)). other tennis players lose points when they go nuts, so there's that. after that though, and aside from melanie oudin who brought some game, the women's group this year looked a little off. serving in particular was ragged (though i dug sharapova's half-serve adjustment, am trying to incorporate into my game so my shoulder doesn't die too soon). the clijsters thing is pretty sweet though, i'm pulling for her.

and of course, i supposed a federer nadal final would be nice. this blog's fun.

R. Gay said...

I definitely agree Serena lost control. Rules are rules, but the foot fault thing was so out of pocket that I do understand why she just flipped her lid. I think she'll be back next season with a vengeance.

I agree that the women's tournament was just... off, save for Oudin, Clijsters and Williams, the women just seemed worn down. Part of it is that so many of them are a. playing injured and b. playing in too many damn tournaments and c. not practicing their serve or doing what they need to do to develop the strengths necessary to serve well. I hope many of the top players learn some valuable lessons.