FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — In one of the most shocking endings to a match in U.S. Open history, Serena Williams was handed a point penalty on match point Saturday night, in effect handing her opponent Kim Clijsters a 6-4, 7-5 free pass to the final, where she’ll face Caroline Wozniacki.
Serving to stay in the first set, behind 5-4, Williams dumped a backhand into the net to give Clijsters the break and the set, and subsequently took her frustration out on her racket, smashing it on the court. She then received a code violation and a warning for racket abuse from chair umpire Louise Engzell.
It would come back to haunt her.
Her back was once again up against the wall late in the second set. With Clijsters up 6-5, Williams served to stay in the match, but fell behind. Trailing 15-30, she tossed the ball up for a second serve when she was called for a foot fault by a lineswoman for the second time in the match (but at a much more costly moment). That made the score 15-40, match point.
That’s when Serena lost it – big time.
Williams refused to let it go, walked toward the lineswoman and lit into her, yelling at her and while holding a ball in her left hand and shaking her racket. Said Serena, “I swear to God I’m (expletive) going to take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat, you hear that? I swear to God. You better be…You don’t know me…”
After Serena turned and walked back to the baseline, the lineswoman approached chair umpire and reported what Serena said. Engzell and tournament referee Brian Earley then conferred on court, and Williams was assessed a code violation and point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, thus ending the match.
Asked if she felt she owed the lineswoman an apology, Williams said, “An apology for? From me?…Well, how many people yell at linespeople?…Players, athletes get frustrated. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen that happen.”
Serena admitted she was outplayed in the match and she was. She committed 31 unforced errors to only 18 from Clijsters, who strung her out from the back court, overmatched her from the backhand side, stood strong in forehand-to-forehand rallies and served well enough in spots to keep Serena largely out of her vicious return zone. If not for serving huge at some critical moments, Serena might not have lasted as long as she did.
While it was a well deserved victory for Clijsters, Serena’s meltdown dulled a little of the sweet taste of victory.
“When you play that last point, whether it’s a winner or by mistake from your opponent, it’s a great feeling to have, especially that’s how it usually goes,” Clijsters said. “The normal feelings of winning a match weren’t quite there. But I think afterwards when everything kind of sunk in a little bit and got explained to me about what happened, you have to put it all in place, and then it becomes a little bit easier to understand and not celebrate, but at least have a little bit of joy after a match like that.”
Serena did praise Clijsters’ “incredible” play and conceded that the Belgian likely would have won the match anyway, but she wouldn’t cop to threatening the linesperson,said she didn’t regret losing her temper and emphasized that she plays by the rules.
“She didn’t win that point but she could have won an Oscar for her performance in that press conference,” said CBS broadcaster Mary Carillo.
Serena claimed she didn’t threaten the lineperson and couldn’t recall what she said.
“I was in the moment,” she said. “Everyone’s fighting for every point…I used to have a real temper, and I’ve gotten a lot better. So I know you don’t believe me, but I used to be worse. Yes, yes, indeed…I’m young and I feel like in life everyone has to have experience that they take and that they learn from. I like to learn from the past, live in the present, and not make the same mistakes in the future.”
Of course, Serena didn’t learn much from her controversy at this year’s Roland Garros, when she threatened Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez after she accused her Spanish opponent of cheating on a controversial point in the first set. Then she told Martinez, “I’m going to get you in the locker room for that. You don’t know me.” After she lost the argument with the chair umpire in Paris, she told Martinez, “She better not come to the net again.”
Regretfully, Serena’s U.S. Open outburst will overshadow what has been a tremendous comeback for Clijsters, who is looking to become the first mother since Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in ’80 to win a major. She’s dropped just two matches since returning in August and is managing the court better than she was when she won the ’05 title.
Even the former No. 1 is surprised.
“Yes, very much so,” said Clijsters, who will face the 19-year-old Wozniacki, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Yanina Wickmayer. “I’ve spoken before about what for me was really important in Cincinnati and Toronto and those tournaments was knowing that I was capable of competing with those top girls. I think that’s where I kind of made a click, but I never really excited to be beating Venus and beating Serena. You try and you try to bring your best tennis, but, you don’t expect things to be going this well this soon. That’s why I, knock wood, just try to really stay focused and not lose my rhythm that I’ve been having over these last two and a half, almost three weeks that we’ve been here. Just trying to keep that going until the whole tournament is finished.”
– Richard Osborn and Matt Cronin
