AKA William

You know something has gone terribly wrong if you are having to explain that you didn’t threaten to kill someone. While on court.

Last night in the semi-final match against Kim Clijsters, the 26-year-old mother of a toddler who was playing at her first U.S. Open since she won the title in 2005, Serena Williams had a breakdown that cost her the match.

Here’s what happened: After nearly two days of rain delays, Williams and Clijsters were finally able to play their match. Clijsters outplayed Williams the entire match, so much so that at the end of the second set, a frustrated Serena smashed her racquet against the net post. And received a warning for it.

At the end of the second set, with Serena serving to stay in the match 5-6 at 15-30, Williams missed her first serve. On her second serve, a linesman called a foot fault, which meant that Serena effectively double-faulted. Which meant that Clijsters now had two match points.

Now, foot faults are not all that common, especially at important match moments. And that pissed off Serena. And instead of pulling it together, she went OFF on the linesman.

There are some conflicting reports about what was said, but you can decide for yourself. The bleeped out audio and video of what she said was aired on CBS, and it’s very clear that she said, “I wish I could take this fucking ball and shove it down your fucking throat!” Serena went on to say more, but that portion audio isn’t clear.

The linesman then informed the match umpire of what was said. The match umpire then called out Brian Earley, the tournament referee, who, to have a a short on-court discussion with the linesman and Serena, who could be overheard saying to the linesman, “I didn’t say I would kill you!” After some more discussion, Serena was then penalized with a point for unsportsmanlike conduct. The reason she was penalized that point is because she had received the earlier warning for racquet abuse.

And that point penalty, given at match point, meant the match was over. Tell you what. I’ve been a huge tennis fan for more than twenty years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.

Whew. Watch Serena’s words to the linesman, watch the entire on-court episode, and watch Serena’s press conference.