It Must Be Love

The US Open Tennis has had a bunch of cool graphics and vinettes that they play before each match. The overall promotion ends with a scene of Serena jumping up and down very excited to win, with the tagline, it must be love.

Well we know that love is blind. Serena and I are just a little blind, I guess. What should she be appoligizing for? She basically kicked dirt on the Ump's shoes, when the Ump made a horrible wrong call at the most important point in the game and she basically got kicked out because of it. The commentators are saying that the $10,000 fine is not enough and that she should appoligize. FOR WHAT? The ref was so completely wrong and obtuse that the ref should be appoligizing to her. Is anyone investigating the ref? No ref calls foot faults, I think because they are so difficult to call and most players are professionals, they know where they've placed their feet. So when a ref calls a foot fault, it is like a slap in the face to a player. The Chair ref can't overrule it because they are too far away to review it. They don't have an automatic photo review for foot faults. And the manevolent grin that the ref was wearing while she complained--I wanted to jump through the tv and slug her.

But Serena is a professional. She didn't argue once the ruling was made to assess her a point lose for unsportsmanlike conduct. She went over and shook Kim's hand to congratulate her on winning the match. It wasn't like Serena deliberately deprived Kim the chance to raise her arms in victory.

One of the sports guys who critized Serena's behavior and bemoaned that she was only fined $10,000, said, hey, kids are watching that. I thought of all the little league games around the country where the parents are so intent in the game and the Umpires are so abused. Yeah, poor kids have never seen anyone yell at a ref before.

Now I admit that it was unprofessional and I admit that it was over the line. If it had been me, that racket might very well have hit the ref, accidentally (on purpose), but I digress. Her penalty was that she lost the whole match. Does anyone really believe that Serena serving was going to lose that match point--the odds are that she would have saved it. Further, given Kim's propensity for fading at the big moments, Serena still had a pretty good chance of winning the match. She was the favorite to win the US Open. The game was really close, but it was not over.

So she was kicked out of the game. That's what happens for a flagrant foul in basketball. That's what happens to the baseball guys who kick dirt on the umpires shoes in baseball--"You're Out of Here". They might also have to pay a fine. Serena has to pay a fine.

I though her statement was great. As a lawyer, I admire how she didn't actually apoligize. But the commentators want her to be suspended. Well that would actually help Serena and hurt the sport. Good call. Serena gets a rest and is fresher and more fit for the next tournament and all the little tournaments that depend on the big names in tennis to appear for revenue lose out. I think the penalty fit the behavior and it should all be over with.

However, I seem to be the only one who's rooting for Serena. It must be love.

P.S. That's not to say that I wasn't absolutely thrilled that Kim won--she looked like she was struggling all through her match with Wozniacki, but she pulled out the clinch shots and probably would have beated Serena anyway, the way she was playing. Very cool. It was wonderful to see her win. Now I can't wait for Serena and Venus to win doubles. And do I dare root for Del Po? Federer is scary good, but Del Po beat Nadal so handily. Maybe...