On the day that Serena Williams posted a picture of herself getting ready for an event minus the now famous boot she tweeted the following:
serenawilliams Serena Williams
Question- I keep hearing about an admittance to someone cheating me & lying about it after at the French open? Did she confess finally?
I'm guessing most of you, including me, would not be surprised at the reaction to the simple question Serena posed. Some on Twitter even called on Serena to be the bigger person and move on. Really people? Someone lied about a situation to your face, acted as if you were the crazy one for being upset and you're supposed to be the bigger person? To add insult to injury the liar said that she was right to do what she did because you and your sister intimidated her and yet she should be given a pass?
All of us are entitled to our likes and dislikes in tennis, including players. In this situation I think likes and dislikes have to be put aside for the higher moral issue at stake here. I mean this liar didn't only cheat Serena, a polarizing player to say the least, but the supposedly universally loved St Kim Clijsters. Most of the posters aren't concerned about that part of the equation though. Their sole focus is Serena. Several Tweeters brought up the racial issue asking if the situation had been reversed would the people saying Serena should move on be saying that? Hell, Serena would've been run out of tennis if she'd done what Justine Henin has admitted to doing not once, but twice, and not apologizing for it.
In my opinion the best response came from Caroline Wozniacki who posted the following Tweet:
CaroWozniacki Caroline Wozniacki
@ serenawilliams hahahaha!!
14 comments:
It was hilarious today. I loved it. Leave it to Serena to face that issue head on and address it on twitter. None of this lovey dovey behind the scenes BS. I had to laugh when I saw tweets about Serena moving on. Moving on. Beyotch please. She robbed her of what could very well have been a calendar year Grand Slam. She robbed her of her second FO and robbed Clijsters of not only 1, but 2 or 3 Grand Slam titles. She needs to be called out and I will be interested to hear what commentators like Carillo, Shriver and Martina will say about this piece of revelation.
You bet your money if it had been Serena who had done that you would have heard how she should have been chased out of tennis. Like I said in my previous post, Justine needs to go back under the rock from whence she came. Pretty game and all.
Clearly, Serena hasn't moved on.
She hasn't advanced past the quarterfinals in Paris ever since.
And I can think of three quarterfinals off the top of my head (Capriati, Kuznetsova, Stosur) where she had every opportunity.
As Serena said herself, "What happened in Paris stayed in Paris," and Serena faces it whenever she returns.
How could she? Remember she was very young, and possibly incredibly naive. Here she was trying to defend her French Open title. Her family is there. Her friends are there and what would become her nemesis is there. She is playing before what can politely be termed a "hostile" crowd. She is up in the match. Playing the crowd and the crowd favourite. She sees her opponent blatantly cheating and then lying about it. She hears the boos and the jeers and there is no recourse.
Maybe now that Justine has finally admitted that she raised her hand Serena will now be able to advance past the quarterfinals of the FO. I truly hope so, for her sake, because it would seem as if this is an unfinished task on Serena's List of Things to Do, i.e. win another French Open title
Excellent point Craig.
I wonder why Caroline Wozniacki removed her "hahaha" Tweet?
Glad to see Lindsay step up to the plate too btw.
Speaking as someone who was always an admirer of Henin THE PLAYER, not so much of Henin THE PERSON I can only say that Henin proves conclusively that the same character traits that can make you a great champion don't necesarily make you a great human being. The same can de said about Serena too; the way she always refuses to give her opponents any kind of credit after they beat her isn't exactly endearing either.
I don't think I can say this enough. Serena is the wronged party here. Serena is a very controversial player and will always be. It just seems to me that part of that controversy comes because she is not what people what a black athlete to be. She is outspoken, emotional, physically and mentally strong. She doesn't fit the standards held up as universal for being beautiful or attractive for some. Long story short Serena doesn't grovel and that irks some people.
I know Serena threw some serious shade towards Henin. I think she was very nice about it. If she did the "Told You So" dance it was in private.
If Serena had done what Henin now admittedly did in front of millions she would've been run out of tennis. Henin's actions not only against Serena but Clijsters and Mauresmo were always excused.
Savannah, of course Serena was the wronged party here, and I'm certainly not expecting her to grovel. But a little more grace and humility, in victory and defeat would not hurt. She could learn a lesson or two from her sister Venus in that respect. And if I recall, Henin's retirement against Mauresmo in that AO final was universally condemned, even by her biggest admirers in the press and tennis fans in general. She did not get a pass that time.
Finally, Serena will go down in history as a much more succesful and better player than Henin. What better revenge could there be than that?
Humility? Humility for what? She's the best tennis player of her time! As E. Badu once said, "Being humble is so 2007."
She doesn't need humility in defeat. She wasn't defeated. That fool cheated.
Fred, you like many others seem to be using the media's interpretation of Serena's comments from circa 2001-2002 to judge her present circumstances.
What does a player cheating in a tennis match and now confessing to it (and not even being apologetic I might add) have anything to do with Serena not giving her opponent's credit? Time to stop muddying the waters.
I am no fan of Henin, but have always liked her game, but she cheated her opponent and lied about it. She even goes as far as to try and paper it over by insinuating that because it was the Williams Sisters she felt she had to do something, anything to win the match. I recall at the time that Serena was booed and condemned in the media for even protesting and at her press conference she broke down in tears and said that Henin lied and cheated and she was chided for sour grapes for those comments.
Tell me now, who should be gracious in victory and defeat?
Give me a break.
I'd like to post a correction:
Serena does not always refuse to give her opponents credit in defeat.
Anyone who claims that is false.
Period.
Moving along...
TennisAce, maybe I didn't make myself clear since English is not my first language, but no way did I suggest that Serena should have been humble and graceful after Henin cheated her in that match at R. Garros. She had every right to be angry; I was angry just as a spectator. I was referring to Serena's attitude in general towards her opponents after she loses matches. I remember Samantha Stosur saying the same thing after beating Serena at Stanford a couple of years ago.
@Craig Hickman, as far as I know, the only opponents Serena gives any kind of credit to are her sister Venus and on a good day Clijsters. And before you call me false or a hater, I'm a fan of Serena Williams, but a critical one. I don't close my eyes to her faults.
Glad to see Vera win today over the golden girl and Novak get another win over the golden boy.
Serena does not give her opponents credit:
On Henin: whenever I play her she brings out the best in me
On Sharapova: such a competitor. You know you have to play your best to beat her because she always plays until the last point.
On Jankovic: She is very speedy around the court and gets a lot of balls back. You have to be on your game to beat her.
These are only a few of the players that Serena has complimented. One of the reasons why Serena has perhaps never been warm towards Stosur may be because like Justine Henin, she also cheated Serena out of a point. In a match in Sydney there was a let on a serve and rather than admit that it was a let, Stosur played the ball and won the point, even though she knew very well that the first serve was a let. Serena went on to win the match, but since there has been nothing but cold courtesy between them.
The Williams Family does not like cheating. If they lose, it is because of their opponent's great play forcing them to commit UFEs. They admit that. However, when players blatantly cheat in order to win against them, where is the honour in that?
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