Serena Williams

The Phrase "Spoilt Brat" springs to mind

 

What she did was unjustified, unsporting to her opponent and horrible to watch. Its not defensible.
But, many men have had bigger tantrums and called umpires far worse than ''thief' and not received a one game penalty. That's her point - the double standards in the way men's and women's tennis are umpired.

 

She didn’t get the one game penalty just for that though, she had had two previous incidents during the match. If her coach hadn’t been trying to coach her during the game and if she hadn’t smashed a racquet she wouldn’t have got a game penalty

 

To call an umpire that has officiated in grand slam finals and Davis cup finals a cheat and a liar is bring the game into disrepute, slanderous even and she should be banned for her outburst. Her argument should have been with the WTA who ironically are backing her in this instance, what a coincidence eh? It should be the WTA that voice their concerns about how men maybe percieved to be umpired differently to women, that is not the fault of the umpire for following the letter of the law.

 

I agree with most of that. Im not defending her actions on the court at all.
However, I understand the umpire has form for giving strict 'letter of the law' punishments to women and less so for men. Apparently many of the umpires are pretty pally with the male players and are inclined to give more quiet informal warnings to men about their behaviour before moving to formal sanctions than they do with the women. That view has been backed up by various women players, who feel aggrieved that there isn't a level playing field, and that's why the WTA are supporting her claims. But none of that excuses her behaviour on the court.

 

Men do seem to be rather stroppy at the top level of tennis, its just a shame Williams decided to use a final in which she was losing to use gamesmanship to try and win, instead of making her point along the right channels. Everything is always about Serena, who can't ever do wrong in eyes of the US public.

 

Agreed.

 

Tennis. One of the great sports. Up there with F1