Serena Out of Control

Frankly, I never liked her much to begin with. Last night, though, Serena Williams' boorish display put her on that rare pedestal with the king of self-delusion, Roger Clemens, as far as sheer idiocy and misplaced machismo is concerned. Williams may or may not have foot-vaulted during match point of her semi-final match against Kim Clijsters yesterday at the U.S. Open. What should be un-debatable is that her obscene and ridiculous death threat directed toward the unsuspecting lines-woman following the questionable call was the most gross and uncalled for display by a professional athlete this year. Please, don't twist this into some skewed positive, claiming that Serena showed us her true passion for the game last night. This was a terrible event in front of thousands of spectators and millions watching from home. Really ugly. 

Historically, Williams hasn’t shown much class when things don’t go her way. Her losses are always conveniently due to her miscues, never to an opponent’s play. Also, she does have a history of aggression, though she claimed otherwise during a preposterously curt and unapologetic post-match interview. At the French Open a few months ago she threatened (albeit non-profanely) fellow pro Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Serena's "passion" is out of control and it's time the U.S. Tennis Association gave her a fine to think about so that, next time she considers threatening an official with tennis-ball-strangulation, she'll perhaps have another voice in her head to mull over.