Serena Williams Outburst: Fine vs. Suspension

no it’s fair. that’s what the rules say. the fine is 10,000USD. The rules don’t say that you adjust penalties according to how much you earn in the tournament. Not that it’s an excuse for what she did, but the rules are rules.

Are you kidding me with this nonsense. That call was bogus, it was wrong and they have been calling wrong things on her all day. This is the first time she has ever exploded while enduring boos from attendees, racist comments from players and commentators for well over two decades while her and her sisters have been playing. Other players have done worse and are not treated this way. So when she is held to a different standard of punishment, it speaks way louder than her outburst. Look in the mirror at why you really want her punished.

Leave Serena Williams alone. First of all, the game of tennis is a game of passion and all of the athletes from time to time, allow their emotions to get the best of them. For the most part,Serena has bee a great champion and good for the sport. The fine is enough, but the rumor of taking away the money she earned during the tournament is crazy and unethical. How could an organization who has benefited from the good Press and attention Serena has brought to the game, be so cruel for a mistake she made. She has apologized and that should be enough. If you are going to take her earnings from her, then go back and take money away from John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors or even Matina Navritalova. How about some of the current players who throw rackets and curse when they get upset? It’s a double standard. Serena isn’t perfect, but who is to say that her concerns weren’t legit?

The bottom line here is that we can all be nice when things are going our way. The measure of a person with class is how they act when things aren’t going there way.
I think that pretty much says it all.

I don’t know of any player that’s ever said they would ram a ball down a line judge’s throat. Called them stupid or blind or swore a lot, sure. But the problem isn’t yelling on the court, it’s a question of what was actually said.

I think she brings in too much revenue to tournaments for them to suspend her. Even if they think it’s the correct action I doubt they would actually go through with it. If they were to suspend her it could be because of the statement released yesterday as much as the incident itself. Normally if you release a statement you appologize but she hasn’t done that. The issue isn’t just that she swore, that happens often and gets players the code violation that she received. What the grand slam committee may look at is that she kept going after an individual line judge and hasn’t said she’s sorry for doing it.

I don’t think they will actually suspend her but the fine is there to deter players from official abuse. For a lot of small-time players $10K would be sufficient to do that. For any of the top players it’s really just pocket change so it doesn’t deter in any way. That’s where the Grand Slam committee comes into play and has the ability to put forward additional punishment if they think the fine isn’t enough, which for most top players it’s not. But I doubt the sport would ever suspend one of it’s most popular players for something like this to send a message. The ATP and WTA have worked hard over the last 20 years to clean the sport up after players like Connors and McEnroe made it more of a spectacle than a sport. Things have come a long way since then and I think they’ve got enough positive progress that they won’t feel it’s necessary to really send the type of message that a suspension to Serena would send. They’ll probably stick with the fine and give her a warning but that’s it. The only reason I could see them doing more is because if they don’t next time another player does something like this they won’t have any justification to suspend them either. And they are trying to get stuff like this out of the game so they may not want to handcuff themselves for offenses by less popular players.

On the men’s side Xavier Malisse was suspended for 4 weeks a few years ago and kicked out of the doubles event he was playing the same tournament for yelling at a line judge who called a foot fault, and what he said was a lot less severe than what Serena said. I didn’t see many people rushing to his defence and saying he was being picked on. He didn’t argue the suspension and he should have been suspended for his actions.

Serena has been punished. Leave it at that. She is one of the most gracious women playing the game, even though she lost it for a minute. She apologized, congratulated Clisters, and didn’t make any excuses or complain about losing.

Personally, I think the chair ref should have overuled the foot fault. The film shows that if it happened at all, it was not flagrant, and a match should not be decided on a foot fault. Let the players determine the outcome.

In the future, a camera should be placed on the service line and players should be able to challenge foot faults just like they do any other call they do not agree with. If foot faults are going to be called, there should be a way confirm the call and all players should be held to the same standard.

Serena needs to pay the fine, if that is what the rules say, too many people break rules today and get away with it. She is not special enough to get off. That is what is wrong with celebretaties they think they can get out of any wrong doing. They will make an example out of her. Besides if that Asian was my mom, I would have wanted to whip Serena’s (who know what). How disrespectful. If she would not talk to her father this way, she shouldn’t have done that to the judge. Her father taught her better. She should have challenged the call instead.

Serena behavior is inexcusable and her lack of respect to the line judge is a disgrace. No prize money should be issued and doubles play should not have been permitted. The $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and a $500 racket abuse penalty is pathetic.

No athlete should be permitted to act out in such a threatening manner. What message does this send out to the future stars? How can anyone be proud of these actions?

Hopefully, the Grand Slam Committee will continue to investigate and consider this as a “major offense” and apply additional penalties.

serena williams is a disgrace to the world of tennis….. she should be suspended for a few years from playing in future grand slam events…..but that will probably never happen….. she could not handle her getting her butt kicked by a recent Mom and unranked player—–it is a sad day for the tennis world when people tolerates the likes of her… she showed the world on saturrday what kind of person she actually is !!!!!! l