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Serena Williams US Open Meltdown – was it because of anti-feminism, anti-Black, prejudice, bias or plain old Intensity?

The Bad Boys of Tennis Exposed…

The recent fiasco in the women’s final of the US Open in which a string of umpire calls resulted in a meltdown by Serena Williams far overshadowed a dominant performance by rising star Naomi Osaka in crushing Williams.  It was a sad commentary for professional sports.

It led to a disgusting display of bad sportsmanship in which Serena whipped the pro-Williams fans into such a frenzy that a cacophony “boos” greeted the young Japanese girl in the awards ceremony.

The overwhelming disgust of the crowd totally ignored the exceptional display of skill, dominance and maturity by Osaka, and destroyed her historic moment winning her first major championship, leaving the new champion on the winner’s podium in tears.

Throughout the championship match the poor sportsmanship displayed by Williams seemed more like a deliberate strategy to distract, delay and disrupt the poise of the young challenger.

Serena’s threats to the umpire and tourney officials for most of the match and constant delays while arguing and disrupting the flow of the game would have upset any normal challenger but Naomi was no pretender to the throne, she owned it on this day.

She methodically waited out the tantrums of Serena and crushed her where it counted, on the scoreboard.  Were it not for the collective unconsciousness of the overwhelmingly pro-Serena gallery when they had a meltdown and unleashed a thunderous scream of boos for the benefit of a worldwide television audience, it might have been just another bad moment in tennis history.

To be fair and to her credit, when the award ceremony began and was drowned out by the boos, Serena finally regained her composure enough to tell her fans to stop booing and let Osaka have her historic moment, but the damage had already been done.  It might have been a defining moment were it not for the fact Serena had fueled the flames and caused the disruptions in the first place.

So what about her mad rants about prejudice, anti-feminism, prejudice, bias or whatever?  Well the news media was quick to jump on her bandwagon and agree with her that the same thing never happened in men’s tennis when they did the same things.

In a word, nonsense!

Media credibility, which has fallen to the lowest levels in modern history, is a result of history, or lack of it in the first place.  Every day it seems the left-leaning news media rewrite history by ignoring it, and the effect it has on the present.  Very little of what happens today is new, or original.

Take Serena’s charge that men are not treated like women when it comes to fines and point penalties like she got.  Rather than me tell you what to think, you decide.  In this article I added a number of old stories from the news media, about the bad behavior of men and the fines and points deducted in their matches.

Long before her 2018 meltdown Serena had one in 2009 so this was not her first display of arrogance on the court.   Long before she turned professional the Bad Boys of Tennis perfected the strategy of disruption, disgust and delay in tennis matches.

The men were never punished for bad behavior in tennis?  Get real!  The fines, point deductions and even disqualifications against the men dominated the sport for decades.  The incredible intensity of the competition, the millions of dollars in prizes and endorsements hanging in the balance, and the natural showmanship of the gladiators made it inherent in the sport.

It never happened to men?

Jimmy Connors, ilie Nastase and John McEnroe

the Bad Boys of Tennis!

The boys who changed the sport of tennis forever as previous tennis idol Rod Laver noted.  They not only perfected the art of War in tennis, they were consistently fined, penalized points, lost games and even defaulted matches.

Rather than condemn the media for being ignorant of history and facts, let them choke on their own words which demonstrate why no one believes them anymore.  Here is what an honest media had to say back in the past about those Bad Boys of Tennis.

CONNORS MOVES ON, LENDL HANGS ON

By Sally Jenkins

September 5, 1989

NEW YORK, SEPT. 4 -- This U.S. Open is not for children. So long as 37-year-old Jimmy Connors is here it is violent and profane, but thrilling too, for Connors became an upset quarterfinalist tonight with a stream of obscenities and a straight-set defeat of third-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden. Connors was wracked by soreness and tension and temper. He screamed, he swore, he flailed, and he was assessed a game penalty and fines of $2,250 for his misconduct, which included numerous epithets hurled at chair umpire Richard Ings. But twice Connors came from 0-2 deficits to completely overwhelm 23-year-old Edberg, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 at the National Tennis Center. Afterward the five-time champion, the oldest player in the draw and seeded just 13th, was unrepentant. "I've never really apologized for anything I've ever done," he said. Connors's easy victory was just one of the unexpected occurrences in the round of 16.

Earlier, top-ranked Ivan Lendl was extended to five sets by 16th-seeded Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union but rallied for a 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.  Seventh-seeded Michael Chang, the 17-year-old French Open champion, was upset by No. 9 Tim Mayotte, 7-5, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. 

Connors perhaps could be forgiven for some of his transgressions. He had suffered agonizing spasms throughout his lower body following his third-round victory over Andres Gomez and had to be treated for more than two hours. He had endured a year of self-doubt and frustration, failing to move beyond the second round in a Grand Slam event. In Edberg he faced a limber, spring-legged serve-and-volleyer who was a finalist at this year's French Open and Wimbledon. Edberg had beaten him in their last two encounters, but was lackluster tonight. "I think two things happened," Connors said. "I was playing one of those dream matches where everything goes right. He was playing one of those matches like you're just never in it." "I was on a tight string," he said of the controversy. "Something was said, and something was said again, and instead of me letting up and forgetting about it I continued on, and I shouldn't have done that," because it cost a game. 

Connors rode a dangerous crest of emotion all night. He recovered from a two-game deficit in the first set to sweep the next six games, breaking Edberg's serve on set point by launching his body into a forehand winner down the line, to a deafening roar. But when Edberg opened the second set by breaking Connors's serve, he screamed in rage. "Warning, audible obscenity," Ings said. Connors started for his chair at the changeover, and swatted a ball in the direction of the umpire. He continued jawing at Ings. "Code violation, audible obscenity," Ings said calmly, and awarded a point to Edberg. Connors rose to take the court, continuing to berate the umpire and gesturing at him. Ings then penalized Connors the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. That put Connors at a 0-2 deficit again. Ings, it should be noted, is a veteran and highly regarded chair umpire noted for his strict control of matches. 

His conduct was correct according to Men's Tennis Council rules. Connors was one more bit of misconduct from defaulting the match entirely, under Grand Prix rules. Furious, he stormed back to his chair and refused to play, calling for Ken Farrar, the supervisor of referees, and Gayle Bradshaw, the tournament referee. Ferrar came out and directed Connors to resume play. "I don't have to take this {expletive}," Connors said. Ferrar told him to play. "Play? Why should I play?" Connors said. Farrar again directed Connors to take the court, and motioned to Ings to resume the match. Connors finally retook the court. And swept the next three games, hurling himself across the court while Edberg assisted him with wildly errant shots. A typical sequence came in the eighth game, as Edberg served with Connors leading, 4-3. Connors went ahead, 0-40, when he raced to retrieve an Edberg overhead, threw up a spinning lob, and then tore into Edberg's second overhead with a searing forehand pass for a winner. On triple break point, Edberg tried a twisting drop volley. Connors reached it for another forehand pass down the line to pandemonium, for a 5-3 lead, and held for the set. He broke Edberg again in the first game of the third set, and took a 4-1 lead when Edberg yielded another service game on two sloppy, deep backhand volleys. Connors held with a pair of service winners, and broke a final time for the match.

It was the 16th time in 20 Open appearances Connors has made at least the quarterfinals. He is the oldest player to make the quarterfinals since Ken Rosewall, who did so at 39 in 1974. His next opponent will be even younger, 19-year-old Andre Agassi, the No. 6 seed who defeated him in straight sets in the quarterfinals last year. "If I go out and play like I did tonight, it would be a good time for you to show up," Connors said. A year ago Agassi rose out of nowhere to No. 3 in the world. But this season he has made only one Grand Prix final, falling to No. 7 and under criticism for his erratic behavior. So the Open can be another proving ground for him, and his straight-set victory over Jim Grabb was convincing, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3. Agassi represents the last vestige of the future in the men's draw. 

Chang came to the Open seeded seventh after surprising the world on the slow clay in the French, becoming the youngest winner of a men's Grand Slam event at 17. But today his fast-court game was limited as he lost to Mayotte. Chang's loss prevented a much anticipated rematch with Lendl, who would have been his quarterfinal opponent. But the No. 1 player in the world almost didn't get there either. Lendl trailed by service breaks in each of the first three sets, and was never comfortable through their 3-hour 45-minute encounter. Chang led by 5-2 in the first set, but Mayotte swept the next seven games, taking a 2-0 lead in the second. Serving at 5-3 in the first, Chang committed three straight unforced errors to yield the game, his normally reliable groundstrokes going just awry. 

In the women's draw, all of the top eight seeds have reached the quarterfinals, the first time in the open era that has happened in this tournament. Four more seeds completed the round uneventfully. Top-ranked Steffi Graf of West Germany had her serve broken for the second time in the tournament but beat Rosalyn Fairbank of South Africa anyway, 6-4, 6-0. "I couldn't continue to play like that," Graf said of her erratic first set. "It was not possible." No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini of Argentine crushed No. 10 Conchita Martinez of Spain in a little more than an hour, 6-1, 6-1. No. 6 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, the 17-year-old French Open winner, made her first Open quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-2, victory over Barbara Paulus of Austria. Graf's next opponent is eighth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victor over Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union. 

Memory Lane: Jimmy Connors defaults match after tirade over line call

By COURTNEY NGUYEN 

February 21, 2014

In this modern age of collegiality and sportsmanship -- call it the Roger Federer effect -- it's insane to even consider a top-ranked player defaulting a match just because he felt like it. Yet that's precisely what happened 28 years ago today when the one and only Jimmy Connors stormed off the court late in the fifth set of a semifinal against Ivan Lendl at the 1986 Lipton International Players Championships in Boca Raton, Fla. The source of Connors' ire? The umpiring, of course.

In a testy match that included code violations for both players, the fourth-ranked Connors lashed out at chair umpire Jeremy Shales during a dispute over a line call with No. 1 Lendl leading 3-2, 30-love in the fifth set.

Here's what went down, according to The New York Times:

Connors charged the umpire's chair and demanded that the supervisor of officials, Ken Farrar, and the tournament referee, Alan Mills, be summoned immediately. But because the dispute involved a judgment call, there was no reason for Shales to summon them. Instead, he advised Connors to resume play or face the consequences.

After Connors was penalized a point and then a game to fall behind, 5-2, Mills and Farrar walked onto the court and told Connors he had no recourse in this instance. Farrar told him it was in his best interests to play. But Connors refused, sitting down and letting time expire. He then packed his racquets and marched off the court to cheers and applause from the crowd.

The Times noted that Shales "gave [Connors] a point penalty for a time violation, then three code violations for a continued delay. Finally, after Connors had exhausted all the time he was allotted by the rules to resume play, Shales defaulted him."

Lendl's winning score reads 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 5-2 DEF.

Connors' tantrum -- a meltdown that led to $25,000 in fines and a 10-week suspension.

"You can only take so much," Connors said after the match. "I'm out there giving my blood. I felt I was sticking up for my rights. All I want [Shales] to do is pay attention. If he's paying attention on only one side of the court, that's not good enough. If there's incompetence out there, you get somebody competent to do the job."

Connors recalled the match in his book, The Outsider, and let's just say he didn't exactly sweat the punishment.

"The things you have to do to get some time off, right?" he writes. "Anyway, the suspension I received was an opportunity for me to play a couple of special events and a half a dozen exhibitions. I made a hell of a lot more money than I would have playing the tournaments."

Lendl went on to beat No. 3 Mats Wilander in the final.

Memory Lane: McEnroe-Connors dust-up

By COURTNEY NGUYEN 

January 10, 2013

On Jan. 10, 1982, top-ranked John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, then No. 3, almost came to blows during the final of the Michelob Light Challenge in Rosemont, Ill. The match had everything fans had come to expect from the Connors-McEnroe rivalry. It turned into a tense five-set affair full of code violations, point penalties and more arguments than you'd see at the Supreme Court.

In the fifth set, Connors grew tired of McEnroe's delay tactics and crossed over the net to give him a piece of his mind. And to stick a finger in his face, which McEnroe swatted away before officials finally stepped in to separate the two.

Rewatching that clip, what strikes me most is how nonchalant the announcers are about the confrontation. Nowadays, Serena Williams yells at a linesperson from 15 feet away, and it's front-page news. Marcos Baghdatis smacks four rackets into the ground and the Internet is all "Oh, my gosh! Can you believe what this crazy guy just did???" Here, Connors crosses the net, verbally abuses McEnroe, the two get physical and the commentators sound like they're bored. Oh, how times have changed.

Connors won the exhibition match -- yes, it was an exhibition -- 6-7, 7-5, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Here's what Connors said afterward, as quoted in Randy Walker's book, On This Day in Tennis History: "I think we both have the same attitudes. He's aggressive, I'm aggressive. We both stick up for our rights. But I stick up for my rights in a different way. If I feel like I'm in the right, I'll step up. I want some respect, not sloughing off. But there are certain limits."

FOR THE RECORD: MCENROE'S TANTRUMS AND FINES

United Press International

Published: July 4, 1991 12:00 am

The record of John McEnroe's altercations with tennis authorities since he broke into the international circuit in 1977.

June 1977 - Screamed obscenities at French Open line judge while winning mixed doubles final with Mary Carillo, but was not fined.July 1980 - Earned first major warning at Wimbledon for behavior during semifinal against Jimmy Connors.

July 1981 - Fined a total of $6,000 at Wimbledon when he called chair umpire "pits of the world" and told him, "You cannot be serious!" Referee Fred Hoyles said he had come within two tantrums of disqualification during early match against Tom Gulliksen. Defeated Bjorn Borg in a four-set final, but boycotted champions dinner, resulting in another fine. Recommended additional fine of $10,000 overturned on appeal.

May 1983 - Fined $1,000 for calling Czech opponent Tomas Smid a "communist bastard" at Forest Hills event.

June 1983 - Fined $3,500 for clashing with photographer at courtside during French Open.

July 1983 - Fined $325 for swearing at spectator during Wimbledon. Fines during the year totalled $7,500.

May 1984 - Fined $7,500 for misconduct during Stockholm Open.

June 1984 - Accrued fines totalling $3,500 for swearing at linesman and other verbal abuse during match against Connors at French Open.

January 1985 - Dropped from U.S. Davis Cup team after "outrageous behavior" during 1984 final defeat by Sweden.

June 1985 - Loses honorary membership of London's Queen's Club for abusing chairman's wife while practicing. McEnroe later was reinstated.

December 1985 - Fined $3,500 for three separate offenses at Australian Open, culminating with verbal abuse of opponent Slobodan Zivojinovic.

January 1986 - Beaten by Brad Gilbert at Masters finals in New York and fined $1,000 for arguing with spectators.

September 1986 - Received fines totalling $3,500 at U.S. Open after he and partner Peter Fleming were disqualified for arriving late for men's doubles match. Fine broke down to $750 for being late and $2,750 for saying what he thought about the disqualification.

April 1987 - Fined $2,000 for time-wasting during match at WCT event in Dallas.

May 1987 - Fined $4,000 for walking off court during World Cup in Dusseldorf.

September 1987 - Suspended two months and fined $10,000 for various offenses at U.S. Open.

July 1988 - Warned for racket abuse during defeat against Australian Wally Masur at Wimbledon.

July 1989 - Australian John Fitzgerald, a fourth-round loser to McEnroe, accuses him of using tantrums to put off opponents.

January 1990 - Thrown out of Australian Open and fined $6,500 after receiving third warning for misbehavior against Mikael Pernfors.

April 1991 - McEnroe admits own behavior on court "sickens me" after receiving a code violation and point penalty during defeat by fellow American Todd Witsken in Hong Kong.

July 1991 - Fined $10,000 for swearing at linesman in Wimbledon loss against Stefan Edberg, picked up by television microphone.

Total fines - $69,500.

Wimbledon hands out one of biggest fines in history as tournament sees some of worst ever player behaviour

Patrick Sawer, senior reporter 

Rozina Sabur

6 JULY 2017 • 7:05PM

This year’s Wimbledon has seem some of the worst behaviour by players in recent years, figures for fines imposed so far during the championships have shown.

Tournament officials have handed out the second highest recorded financial penalty in Wimbledon’s history, imposing a $15,000 (£11,500) fine on Bernard Tomic for "unsportsmanlike conduct".

It came after the Australian admitted in a post-match Press conference that he had faked an injury during his straight-sets loss to the German Mischa Zverev in the first round, and that he was “bored” with Wimbledon.

And Daniil Medvedev was handed three individual fines totalling $14,500 (£11,200) - the third highest amount since records began in 1991 -  for unsportsmanlike conduct, when he threw coins at the umpire’s chair on Wednesday.

The Russian was fined $4,000 as a warning for insulting the Portuguese umpire, Mariana Alvez; $3,000 for again insulting the umpire and $7,500 for tossing the coins at her chair. In just the first three days of this year’s championships a total of $33,500 (£25,900) in fines has been handed out for unsportsmanlike conduct.

That compares to the total $93,500 (£70,700) handed out during the whole of last year’s tournament and the $62,500 (£40,000) levied against players in 2015.

The fines highlight the pressure players are competing under at what is regarded as the world’s greatest tennis tournament, with Grand Slam officials quick to crack down on any offence deemed to be against the rules and the spirit of the game.

Tim Henman, the former British number one and four times Wimbledon semi finalist, said: “Players are under greater scrutiny because the prize money has gone up.”

He added: "I think one thing for sure the club have done a good job is really protecting the court. You smash your racquet on a grass court there'll be some unhappy groundsmen and you'll get some pretty big fines.”

The money will be docked from the players’ prize money, with Tomic losing a third of the £35,000 he earned for his first round appearance.

It comes as Andy Murray weighed into the row over players withdrawing from their first round games at Wimbledon and still picking up prize money by calling for changes to be made.

The Wimbledon champion said he hopes authorities intervene to stop the practise which has split opinion among players and commentators at the championships.

The row began on Tuesday after Roger Federer questioned rules which meant that players who started matches but then withdrew were still entitled to collect £35,000. 

Two successive matches on Centre Court were cut short when the opponents of Federer and Novak Djokovic withdrew.

Tomic’s fine exceeds that handed out to Heather Watson in 2016 when she was fined $12,000 (£9,000 at the time) for smashing her racquet against the court during her first-round loss to Annika Beck.

The highest recorded single fine in Wimbledon history remains that given to Fabio Fognini, who plays Murray on Friday.

He was fined $20,000 (£11,600 at the time) in 2014 for unsportsmanlike conduct, after he  angrily threw his racket on to the grass, and a further £7,500 for shouting at the umpire and unsportsmanlike conduct.

Tomic’s post-match confession that he summoned a doctor and trainer to court 14 as a strategy, when there was nothing wrong with him, on top of his comments about being bored with the championships, is understood to have infuriated officials.

The Australian player’s behaviour also led to him being dropped by one of his two principal sponsors, the racquet manufacturer Head.

In a statement, Head said: “We were extremely disappointed with the statements made at Wimbledon by one of our sponsored athletes, Bernard Tomic.

“His opinions in no way reflect our own attitude for tennis, our passion, professionalism and respect for the game.”

But Tomic said he would appeal against the fine, saying: “I was being honest. People are saying the fine is for calling for the doctor, but it’s not. I don’t think the fine is fair.”

A contrite Medvedev apologised for his behaviour following his match, saying: “I was disappointed with the result. In the heat of the moment, I did a bad thing. I apologize for this.”

He denied he had meant the coin tossing gesture to suggest he thought the umpire was corrupt, adding: “I don't know why I did it. I was frustrated to lose the match. Maybe there were some bad calls. It can happen in sports.”.

Tennis fans have voiced their anger at the behaviour of some players, particularly Medvedev’s coin throwing.

SERENA WILLIAMS: $82,500

Serena Williams was fined a record $82,500 for her tirade at a line judge during a 2009 U.S. Open semifinal match against Kim Clijsters. While Serena’s foul language was bad enough –“I’ll take this ball and shove in down your fu%*ng throat” –the 17-time Grand Slam champion approached the line judge in what the tournament director, Jim Curley, called “a threatening manner.” There’s nothing serene about verbal abuse and racquet-brandishing. The drama began when Serena Williams, serving at 15-30, faulted on a first serve. On the second serve the line judge called a foot-fault, which made it a double fault and 15-40. That’s when Serena's meltdown began. Because of the outburst, the chair umpire awarded a penalty point to Clijsters. Serena lost the match: 6-4, 7-5.