Anyone think Serena owes an apology after her antics Saturday..

[fishwater99]

So glad she lost. What a poor sport...
I sure hope she doesn't get another title, what a loser...

It's not the first time either..

https://nypost.com/2018/09/08/serena-acted-like-a-sore-loser/

[Cooterpoot]

No worse than Mac used to do. Hell, it makes tennis more watchable if you ask me.

[cujo]

So glad she lost. What a poor sport...
I sure hope she doesn't get another title, what a loser...

It's not the first time either..

https://nypost.com/2018/09/08/serena-acted-like-a-sore-loser/

She?s the same as so many other American professional athletes- a joke

[BrunswickDawg]

No worse than Mac used to do. Hell, it makes tennis more watchable if you ask me.

Connors was worse than Mac, but Mac's rep was worse.

I think the point was warranted. The game penalty in grand slam final was excessive.

[KOdawg1]

She's a spoiled, whiny brat. One of the greatest athletes of all time. But a brat nonetheless

[Irondawg]

Playing devil's advocate here, but I'm certainly no Serena fan.

I think it started with the coaching call and that she didn't see her coach make those motions. So she thought that was a bad call and let that get under her skin. The coach very quickly admitted to coaching so I'm actually a touch inclined to believe her when she says she didn't see it and the passion with which she argued that she doesn't cheat. She shouldn't have let it get under her skin that much but for some reason it struck a nerve. To be fair a lot of boxes make signals and you almost never see the umpire call them out.

The breaking of the racquet was fine as she was just broken on service. That's an automatic warning so the chair wasn't making any judgement call. On Serena's end, the way Osaka was playing was essentially the match so i get the outburst.

And while the lashing she gave the umpire certainly merited the 3rd penalty by the definition of the rules, i think it's entirely true that a number of people have gone on much bigger tirades with explicatives and not even gotten a warning. So late in the 2nd set of a grand slam final i think the chair umpire could have used a little more restraint as well since Serena was probably about to lose anyway.

That said i absolutely hated the fact that it turned into a stance where the umpire gave the penalty b/c she was a woman and then the way Billy Jean King went on about it. Maybe that was the case, but there is absolutely no way to prove that unless you have the same chair umpire in the exact same situation with a male player. The umpire doesn't have a big history of being controversial so it seems unfair to play that card.

I just hate it for Osaka that her first big moment came like that.

[BrunswickDawg]

Playing devil's advocate here, but I'm certainly no Serena fan.

I think it started with the coaching call and that she didn't see her coach make those motions. So she thought that was a bad call and let that get under her skin. The coach very quickly admitted to coaching so I'm actually a touch inclined to believe her when she says she didn't see it and the passion with which she argued that she doesn't cheat. She shouldn't have let it get under her skin that much but for some reason it struck a nerve. To be fair a lot of boxes make signals and you almost never see the umpire call them out.

The breaking of the racquet was fine as she was just broken on service. That's an automatic warning so the chair wasn't making any judgement call. On Serena's end, the way Osaka was playing was essentially the match so i get the outburst.

And while the lashing she gave the umpire certainly merited the 3rd penalty by the definition of the rules, i think it's entirely true that a number of people have gone on much bigger tirades with explicatives and not even gotten a warning. So late in the 2nd set of a grand slam final i think the chair umpire could have used a little more restraint as well since Serena was probably about to lose anyway.

That said i absolutely hated the fact that it turned into a stance where the umpire gave the penalty b/c she was a woman and then the way Billy Jean King went on about it. Maybe that was the case, but there is absolutely no way to prove that unless you have the same chair umpire in the exact same situation with a male player. The umpire doesn't have a big history of being controversial so it seems unfair to play that card.

I just hate it for Osaka that her first big moment came like that.

I'd agree with about all of this.

A point to add - Serena handled it graciously with Osaka. I've seen POd tennis players walk off the court instead of congratulating the opponent.

[Bully13]

No worse than Mac used to do. Hell, it makes tennis more watchable if you ask me.

Exactly. Mac had much worse melts than what Serena displayed yesterday. After I saw that latest commercial where she's prissing around with that queen crown on her head, I enjoyed watching her melt and getting her ass whipped. I realize she's one of the most dominant athletes of our era, but I can't stand people who are so self absorbed with themselves that it comes off as narcissistic.

[smootness]

Playing devil's advocate here, but I'm certainly no Serena fan.

I think it started with the coaching call and that she didn't see her coach make those motions. So she thought that was a bad call and let that get under her skin. The coach very quickly admitted to coaching so I'm actually a touch inclined to believe her when she says she didn't see it and the passion with which she argued that she doesn't cheat. She shouldn't have let it get under her skin that much but for some reason it struck a nerve. To be fair a lot of boxes make signals and you almost never see the umpire call them out.

The breaking of the racquet was fine as she was just broken on service. That's an automatic warning so the chair wasn't making any judgement call. On Serena's end, the way Osaka was playing was essentially the match so i get the outburst.

And while the lashing she gave the umpire certainly merited the 3rd penalty by the definition of the rules, i think it's entirely true that a number of people have gone on much bigger tirades with explicatives and not even gotten a warning. So late in the 2nd set of a grand slam final i think the chair umpire could have used a little more restraint as well since Serena was probably about to lose anyway.

That said i absolutely hated the fact that it turned into a stance where the umpire gave the penalty b/c she was a woman and then the way Billy Jean King went on about it. Maybe that was the case, but there is absolutely no way to prove that unless you have the same chair umpire in the exact same situation with a male player. The umpire doesn't have a big history of being controversial so it seems unfair to play that card.

I just hate it for Osaka that her first big moment came like that.

She may not have seen the coaching call, but the fact that her coach admitted he was doing it makes it pretty tough to side with her on the whole, 'But I don't cheat, how dare you question my character!' tantrum. I get being upset, certainly. But you just have to accept it and move on. Once she got that violation, she knew what throwing her racquet down meant. She claimed she thought he pulled back the violation on cheating, but that's insane. Chair umpires can't do that by rule once it's been issued, and he clearly never said he was pulling it back.

And then calling the chair ump a thief and a liar is also basically an automatic. Cursing and yelling is one thing - and it also does result in code violations for men; Federer got one for cursing a few years ago, Kyrgios got one from this same chair ump for yelling, etc. - but questioning the integrity of the chair ump will get you a violation every time.

So both of the last 2 violations are on her 100% even if you want to question the first. The penalties were in her hands. Then the tantrum she threw afterward was just ridiculous, and it led directly to the fan booing of Osaka that she had to then comfort Osaka over. It was an embarrassing display.

We live in a world in which one person does their job (this chair ump was well within his authority to issue each of the violations and is known for being a rules stickler, for men at least as much as women), and the other is an uber-rich, uber-famous athlete who threw out insults, excuses, attempted to bully, and generally acted like a 5-year-old...and yet people are defending the latter and accusing the former of racism and sexism. It is absurd.

[DawgNamedScuba]

Don't care! You win some, you lose some.

Side Question: I wonder how far a quarter would bounce off her ass??

[BeardoMSU]

And then calling the chair ump a thief and a liar is also basically an automatic. Cursing and yelling is one thing

Consider the difference between saying "that's a cock-sucking call" to an ump, and actually calling the ump a cock-sucker. Its all about context.***

[WinningIsRelentless]

$17,000 to her is a joke!!!!! Her return on investment in that 17k will be ungodly with what she will pickup from endorsements for what she said/stance she made.

[msstate7]

She may not have seen the coaching call, but the fact that her coach admitted he was doing it makes it pretty tough to side with her on the whole, 'But I don't cheat, how dare you question my character!' tantrum. I get being upset, certainly. But you just have to accept it and move on. Once she got that violation, she knew what throwing her racquet down meant. She claimed she thought he pulled back the violation on cheating, but that's insane. Chair umpires can't do that by rule once it's been issued, and he clearly never said he was pulling it back.

And then calling the chair ump a thief and a liar is also basically an automatic. Cursing and yelling is one thing - and it also does result in code violations for men; Federer got one for cursing a few years ago, Kyrgios got one from this same chair ump for yelling, etc. - but questioning the integrity of the chair ump will get you a violation every time.

So both of the last 2 violations are on her 100% even if you want to question the first. The penalties were in her hands. Then the tantrum she threw afterward was just ridiculous, and it led directly to the fan booing of Osaka that she had to then comfort Osaka over. It was an embarrassing display.

We live in a world in which one person does their job (this chair ump was well within his authority to issue each of the violations and is known for being a rules stickler, for men at least as much as women), and the other is an uber-rich, uber-famous athlete who threw out insults, excuses, attempted to bully, and generally acted like a 5-year-old...and yet people are defending the latter and accusing the former of racism and sexism. It is absurd.

Yep. Nailed it

[Leroy Jenkins]

Playing devil's advocate here, but I'm certainly no Serena fan.

I think it started with the coaching call and that she didn't see her coach make those motions. So she thought that was a bad call and let that get under her skin. The coach very quickly admitted to coaching so I'm actually a touch inclined to believe her when she says she didn't see it and the passion with which she argued that she doesn't cheat. She shouldn't have let it get under her skin that much but for some reason it struck a nerve. To be fair a lot of boxes make signals and you almost never see the umpire call them out.

The breaking of the racquet was fine as she was just broken on service. That's an automatic warning so the chair wasn't making any judgement call. On Serena's end, the way Osaka was playing was essentially the match so i get the outburst.

And while the lashing she gave the umpire certainly merited the 3rd penalty by the definition of the rules, i think it's entirely true that a number of people have gone on much bigger tirades with explicatives and not even gotten a warning. So late in the 2nd set of a grand slam final i think the chair umpire could have used a little more restraint as well since Serena was probably about to lose anyway.

That said i absolutely hated the fact that it turned into a stance where the umpire gave the penalty b/c she was a woman and then the way Billy Jean King went on about it. Maybe that was the case, but there is absolutely no way to prove that unless you have the same chair umpire in the exact same situation with a male player. The umpire doesn't have a big history of being controversial so it seems unfair to play that card.

I just hate it for Osaka that her first big moment came like that.


What? Someone said the ump gave her a penalty because she is female? Was the other (non gender-specific, biological organism) participant Venus was playing against not also female?

[Activated Alpha]

I just hate having to hear about how this is all blamed on sexism.

[Liverpooldawg]

No worse than Mac used to do. Hell, it makes tennis more watchable if you ask me.

If MAC was still playing he would say "Hold my beer and watch thi."

[Bully13]

The umpire made a mistake when Serena said she was not a cheater. He should have said "I didn't say you cheated, your coach did"

and BTW, her coach admitted to cheating after the match.

[msstate7]

I just hate having to hear about how this is all blamed on sexism.

I'm sure part of it was racism

[bobcat91]

Most professionals are spoiled brats and it's getting worse. Doesnt matter what race, sex or sport: rules are rules. If it cost you the match then that's on her. Play ball and shut your mouth.

[Commercecomet24]

She may not have seen the coaching call, but the fact that her coach admitted he was doing it makes it pretty tough to side with her on the whole, 'But I don't cheat, how dare you question my character!' tantrum. I get being upset, certainly. But you just have to accept it and move on. Once she got that violation, she knew what throwing her racquet down meant. She claimed she thought he pulled back the violation on cheating, but that's insane. Chair umpires can't do that by rule once it's been issued, and he clearly never said he was pulling it back.

And then calling the chair ump a thief and a liar is also basically an automatic. Cursing and yelling is one thing - and it also does result in code violations for men; Federer got one for cursing a few years ago, Kyrgios got one from this same chair ump for yelling, etc. - but questioning the integrity of the chair ump will get you a violation every time.

So both of the last 2 violations are on her 100% even if you want to question the first. The penalties were in her hands. Then the tantrum she threw afterward was just ridiculous, and it led directly to the fan booing of Osaka that she had to then comfort Osaka over. It was an embarrassing display.

We live in a world in which one person does their job (this chair ump was well within his authority to issue each of the violations and is known for being a rules stickler, for men at least as much as women), and the other is an uber-rich, uber-famous athlete who threw out insults, excuses, attempted to bully, and generally acted like a 5-year-old...and yet people are defending the latter and accusing the former of racism and sexism. It is absurd.

Well said!

[Saltydog]

get signals from the coach? I don't know much about the game and that may be a dumb question but you get signals from coaches in other sports, so what's the big deal?

[Pit Bull]

Don't know cause I don't know all the rules on coaches sitting in the stands signaling to the player. Why can't the player's coach sit down on the court and help them during the match? Doesn't make sense to me. She might be correct, but I didn't like her making such a scene out loud. Seems like the ump, her coach, and her could have had a quiet side bar to resolve their issues. I think of tennis like golf....should be a gentleman's/ladies' type sport.

[TUSK]

I think reparations are definitely in order.

Wait... 17! Wrong board. Nm

[Turfdawg67]

No. But please post on more MSU boards.

[dawgday166]

get signals from the coach? I don't know much about the game and that may be a dumb question but you get signals from coaches in other sports, so what's the big deal?

Just a rule in tennis. In singles you're supposed to be out there on your own.

[Lord McBuckethead]

It was an embarrassment. No one I know has defended her. Why, cause we played sports. You bitch about it, then take your medicine and use the anger to destroy the competition. She knew she was beat. Like Tyson biting Holifield. Tyson knew he wasn't going to win either. Bitch move, both of them.

[Saltydog]

her and she comes off as a sore loser, trying to cast a shadow on Osaka's performance.