{"id":15414,"date":"2019-06-02T11:29:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-02T15:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=15414"},"modified":"2021-05-27T16:06:36","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T20:06:36","slug":"thiem-incident-reminder-serena-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/06\/02\/thiem-incident-reminder-serena-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"Thiem Incident Latest Reminder to Stop Treating Serena Williams with Kid Gloves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a surprise loss to Sofia Kenin<\/a>, 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams was due a meeting with the press. The main conference room, however, was occupied with men\u2019s fourth seed and last year\u2019s finalist Dominic Thiem. Instead of waiting it out, for one reason or another, the tournament officials decided to kick the Austrian out the room. Before leaving you can clearly hear the 25-year-old saying<\/a>, “I don’t really get it, seriously. I mean, what the hell? No, but it’s a joke, really. I have to leave the room because she’s coming?”.<\/p>\n

Whether or not Serena Williams asked or requested Thiem to be removed or not, the fact that French Open<\/a> officials let it happen is quite disrespectful to say the least. There\u2019s absolutely no reason any player–let alone someone with Dominic Thiem\u2019s credentials–deserves to be treated the way he was. Rightfully so, the Austrian refused to do any more press talk after being kicked out, hopefully sending a message to the tournament.<\/p>\n

The sad thing is, why are we even surprised? I\u2019ll never dispute Serena Williams is one of the greatest tennis players of all time–even one of the greatest sportspeople to ever live. But this is far from the first time where her actions outside of hitting tennis balls has been a disgrace. Don\u2019t believe me? Let\u2019s have a look at just a few other incidences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

US Open 2009<\/h3>\n

Perhaps the most famous incident of Serena Williams\u2019 tennis career. Just a few points away from defeat against Belgian Kim Clijsters, a lineswoman called a foot fault on the defending champion. In disapproval she approached the woman,<\/a> telling her \u201c”I swear to God I’ll f****** take the ball and shove it down your f****** throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the situation turning into a bigger deal and the tournament referee coming on court to assess the situation, the American would then go on to deny she threatened to kill the lineswoman before receiving a point penalty and handing the match to Clijsters, embarrassing herself and the sport at the same time. For her actions, Williams was fined over $80,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

US Open 2011<\/h3>\n

Just two years after the previous incident in New York, yet another happened, this time with umpire Eva Asderaki. Down a set and break point, the then six-time US Open<\/a> champion hit a big forehand only to shout \u201ccome on\u201d well before her opponent Samantha Stosur could get a racquet on the ball. In light of this, the umpire had no choice but to award the Australian the point and therefore the break of serve, as per the rules.<\/p>\n

Instead of accepting the decision Williams demanded that she\u2019s \u201cnot giving her the game,\u201d as if she was the one in charge before the umpire refused to change her call. Things then got personal<\/a> with \u201cyou’re nobody,\u201d \u201cyou’re ugly on the inside,\u201d and then shouting \u201cWe were in America last time I checked,” \u201cyou’re totally out of control,\u201d \u201cyou’re a hater,\u201d \u201cyou’re unattractive inside,\u201d and \u201cwhat a loser.\u201d No doubt every comment completely uncalled for.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s absolutely nothing that can justify any of these comments or how personal she got over an umpire simply doing her job correctly. What\u2019s even worse is the incident overshadowed Samantha Stosur\u2019s amazing performance and only Slam. No one deserves to have their big moment stolen from them in the way Williams did.<\/p>\n

US Open 2018<\/h3>\n

Sadly, much like Samantha Stosur, Naomi Osaka had her big moment stolen from her<\/a> much the same way thanks to Serena Williams. During the second set umpire Carlos Ramos gave the American a warning for her coach “coaching” her, which is against the rules during a match. In disagreement, Williams–in her second Slam final in a row demanded an apology–claiming she\u2019s never cheated in her life.<\/p>\n

Things escalated even further with the former champion telling Ramos he\u2019ll never share the same court as her again and that he\u2019s \u201ca liar\u201d and \u201ca cheat,\u201d before claiming he was being sexist when she said \u201cthere are men out here who do a lot worse than me, but, because I\u2019m a woman, you are going to take this away from me? That is not right,\u201d totally out of context trying to deflect the situation. Afterwards, research was actually done<\/a> and they found Ramos had actually given more warnings to men than women.<\/p>\n

The incident totally ruined Osaka experiencing her maiden Slam win the way she dreamt of. Even when she won there was booing, and despite this Williams\u2019 still had the audacity to call the crowd the \u201cbest in the world\u201d before a speechless and teary (for the wrong reasons) Osaka held the trophy.<\/p>\n

Steubenville Rape Case 2013<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s pretty obvious Serena Williams is a feminist. Just last year she surprised a group of young girls<\/a> with a private screening of Black Panther, just one of many instances where she\u2019s put herself forwards as a great role model to young women.<\/p>\n

However, back in 2013, two male Steubenville High School students were accused and convicted of raping a drunk 16-year old girl. When asked about this, some of Williams\u2019 responses include<\/a> \u201cI’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you, don’t take drinks from other people,\u201d \u201cshe’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember,\u201d and \u201cshe shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.” (She did apologize for those comments.)<\/p>\n

Like you would expect, such a stance gained huge traction on social media, with many criticizing the great tennis champion for her comments and rightfully so. How can anyone even suggest even part of the blame should be put on the victim in such circumstances? It\u2019s sickening.<\/p>\n

Family Circle Cup 2013<\/h3>\n

With Jelena Jankovic serving early in the second set, Williams was in a crouched position looked ready to return serve. Instead, she held her racquet up in the middle of Jankovic\u2019s service motion, causing the umpire to play a let.<\/p>\n

The Serbian questioned how long she had to wait and while the rules of the game are to play at the pace of the server, the American replied<\/a>, \u201cUntil I\u2019m ready. I don\u2019t play slow.\u201d If you think that\u2019s bad, Jankovic replied that Serena looked ready before the American yet again replied \u201cYou got a problem? I\u2019m not the one,\u201d as if Jankovic was at fault.<\/p>\n

Mocking Dinara Safina Being World #1<\/h3>\n

After winning Wimbledon<\/a> in 2009, Williams found herself with three Slams on her ranking but still World No. 2. In the top spot was Russian Dinara Safina, Slamless. While it\u2019s pretty obvious the “real” No. 1 so to speak was obviously the Wimbledon champion, the rankings showed otherwise.<\/p>\n

When giving an interview and her opinion on such matters she decided to say<\/a>, \u201cI think Dinara did a great job to be World No. 1, she won in Rome and Madrid\u201d sarcastically before snorting with laughter. It\u2019s one thing to not agree with the ranking system; in a situation like, that who would? But to mock how the woman at World No. 1 has got there? Can\u2019t say I\u2019m a fan.<\/p>\n

Calling fellow competitors \u201cb******\u201d<\/h3>\n

17-year-old Maria Sharapova shocked the world by winning Wimbledon in 2004 beating Serena Williams in the final. Sharpova, in her book, claims that after the match in the locker rooms she walked in to find Williams crying and even overhearing the then seven-time champion call her a \u201cb****.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not it actually happened and the Russian heard it right or not we\u2019ll never know, but there\u2019s another incident which is plain for anyone to see–and that\u2019s against Justine Henin at the US Open in 2007, an opponent she had history with. On the way to a loss while waiting to return serve, she calls her opponent a “b****<\/a>.” No doubt Serena Williams isn’t the most gracious winner out there.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Like I said earlier, I\u2019ll never go against Serena Williams being one of the best athletes ever. Her achievements say more than enough, and nothing can take that away from her. However, when it comes to many incidents, it\u2019s hard to not agree she\u2019s crossed way over the line.<\/p>\n

If it were any other player, it\u2019s hard to see how they wouldn\u2019t be made into a much bigger deal, especially given the number of problems Williams has caused over the years.<\/p>\n

Why she\u2019s gotten off lightly for so many incidents is up for you to decide, but it\u2019s hard to argue that isn\u2019t the case. Surely we must reach a point where we have to say enough is enough? It’s long past time to stop treating Serena Williams with the kid gloves that everyone has for so long. If we don’t call her out when her actions hurt the sport, nothing will stop similar actions–from her or anyone else–in the future.<\/p>\n

This is an Opinion piece. As such, it does not necessarily reflect the views of anyone at LWOT other than the author.<\/em><\/p>\n

Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>