Comments on: Serena Williams Gets Fined $175,000 For Yelling At A Line Judge

By: bryan

bryan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:21:28 +0000

Serena thinks she is above it all. Her behavior towards the lineswoman was grounds for suspension and disqualification. She should have lost all prize money for the tournament and ranking points; she didn’t deserve them. People can continue to claim that people want to keep Serena down but those people are probably just as unaccountable as she is…She’s a bit of a thug…that’s obvious.

By: Synnerman

Synnerman — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:52:17 +0000

Oh please. If she was Davenport or Hingis she would have skirted. And the “Death threat” criers are full of bigoted shit. Male athletes should be fined for “death threats” all the time then.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:33:21 +0000

when david beckham lost his temper with a rude fan, everyone tsk tsked him and some people are trying to reason her outburst as a heat of the moment thing. I am glad she got fined, I guess it teaches all athletes a valuable lesson..

By: Janelle

Janelle — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:27:58 +0000

@still standing2 – I sincerely hope you don’t bring race into every aspect of your life if there’s a problem. There are lots of white girls who suck and are just as rude as serena was at that incident. No one here brought up race. No one. They are not ignorant – what they saw was a PERSON acting unprofessional. I hope one day YOU will too on this incident.

By: Smoo

Smoo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:14:46 +0000

whether we like it or not, she ISN’T a regular person.

By: Ally

Ally — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:27:50 +0000

Johnny Mac used to yell a lot, but I never remember him actually threatening a line judge. That’s what is so horrible about it. Athletes shouldn’t be allowed to behave this way in any sport, let alone tennis which has always been considered a “gentleman/ladies game”.

By: Faye

Faye — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:48:09 +0000

She got what she deserved — if anything, she got off easily. It’s true that athletes are “regular people prone to losing their temper,” but in the real world, those “regular people” would be fired, or worse, for threatening to kill a boss or superior. In my line of work (Federal government), you can get jail time for that kind of “temper tantrum!”

By: stillstanding2

stillstanding2 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:24:54 +0000

I wonder what you guys would be saying if this was Davenport, Sharapova, or any of your other blond hair blue eyes player. Envy has reared it ugly head. If the other US players are so good why are they not in the top 20. Serena just bought her a very good lesson that her father gave her for free so long ago. No matter how good you are at your craft there are always people who want to keep you on the bottom of the ladder and it has nothing to do with your craft. Never let your guard down on these beasties. This should be her motivation to buckle down, concentrate on tennis, play kick a$$ matches and make these a$$ holes eat their words. You know she can end these matches so quickly that fans will want a refunds. She should stop entertaining these b’a$$ they don’t care about her. They have double standards for her and her sister. Let’s see if your US Open anointed great white hope comes through for you next year.

By: Shelly

Shelly — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:33:15 +0000

Whatever… that’s pocket change to her. I wish more pro athletes got larger fines for their idiocy.

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:42:42 +0000

@Ron, I completely agree with you! Yes she did apologize, but who cares after she acted so badly?
http://www.serenawilliams.com/.....hp?msg=125

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:39:48 +0000

It’s horrible that she would set that kind of example for kids that watch her. I’m disgusted by her actions, and 175K is a drop in the bucket. I still don’t think a monetary fine is stringent enough; if a player cannot act mature, he or she should not be allowed to play.

By: Dr. Whore

Dr. Whore — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:23:55 +0000

Tasha, just to remind you. John McEnroe, in his fourth round match against Mikael Pernfors at the 1990 Australian Open, was disqualified for swearing at the umpire, supervisor, and referee. He was also subject to many fines over the years for his behavior. Serena is not being singled out because of her gender; she is in fact being treated just like the men.

By: JG

JG — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:14:32 +0000

I saw the incident in person and everyone around me heard her very clearly. She had obviously been in a bad mood throughout the match screaming and also smashed her raquet at one point. It was completely inappropriate and I still can’t believe they let her play the doubles final. At least she’s getting some sort of punishment for her actions because the first 10,000 fine was ridiculous.

By: Court

Court — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:24:32 +0000

Thank You Tasha! i was thinkin that same thing when this all went down.

I think the fine is huge but eh. it is what it is i guess. lol

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:41:20 +0000

Serena got off easy. Take a look at the whole video: she’s shaking her raquet at the line judge during her tirade. Any other sport, she would have been suspended for multiple events along with a fine. Can you imagine if a baseball player yelled at an umpire like that while shaking a bat at him?

Does anyone know where a copy of the entire statement from Serena (or, more correctly, her publicist) is that was just released? I’d be interested to know if she made any sort of an apology or showed any remorse for her actions.

By: m

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:33:03 +0000

it’s just a drop in the bucket for serena.

By: Tasha

Tasha — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:23:57 +0000

John McEnroe used to behave much worse on a regular basis and only received an occasional light slap on the wrist. I can think of many of the male players who are much more arrogant than Serena, Stepanek and Jkovic immediately come to mind. That said, I think the fine would be appropriate for all players who behave like that on court. The fine may seem high, but it’s just pocket change to her. But I see the type of attitude she has in elite male athletes in all sports and no one calls them arrogant, just confident and talented.

By: Bren

Bren — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:13:37 +0000

I think her attitude after the fact, not being apologetic etc, is why the fine is so large. They take this stuff seriously. If she had gotten a slap on the wrist for this, we would see an increase in that sort of behavior. As such…not so much. lol

By: ella

ella — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:12:21 +0000

I never loose my temper, I do lose it often.

By: ella

ella — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:11:45 +0000

I just finished reading some interviews with Serina after the incident and man o man is she awful. She absolutely did not want to apologize and thought nothing of what she said to the line judge. I loose my temper all the time. I do not ever threaten to kill someone.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:45:44 +0000

Your right Chase. she was totally arrogant. she is only the number 1 player in the world, made the most money in a single season, and the most career earning for a female player. Her arrogance is totally undeserved.

Yes she completely lost it but the first thing she did is congratulate kim clijsters on the win. the whole debacle tainted kim’s win because they are talking about serena more than kim. she deserved to be fined … but the ITF seems to treat women differently than men. richard gasquet had cocaine in his system but he was not banned … martina hingis had the same drug in her system (allegedly less) and was banned for 2 years.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:28:28 +0000

An enormous fine is appropriate for her enormous salary. And with her making death threats, couldn’t the police have been involved if the tournament officials wanted to be really nasty? I’m pleased to see a professional sport taking a strong stance against poor sportsmanship.

By: steffa_

steffa_ — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:54:12 +0000

i agree too chase.
but you cant deny thats a ginormous fine lol.

By: VegasLuvr

VegasLuvr — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:52:28 +0000

Completely agree Chase!

By: CHASE

CHASE — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:09:58 +0000

She absolutely deserves it! I’m tired of her arrogant attitude all the effing time. I’m a regular tennis watcher and the way she behaved was totally childish. I mean, poor sportsmanship much? Sure line judges can make things more stressful but you have to OBEY by their rules and the camera even caught the evidence so in reality she should just suck it up and stop being a little whiner like she is. KTHANX