ATTITUDE AT THE U.S. OPEN

The woman's finals at the 2011 U.S. Open Tennis Championships saw Serena Williams hit a strong forehand. If I recall, it was an inside-out shot from the approximate middle of the court to Samantha Sosur's backhand. After she hit the shot, she screamed just before Sosur was to attempt racket contact. The chair umpire ruled interference with play and awarded the point to Samantha.

Serena cursed at the umpire, called her ugly, inferred that this is America to a foreigner, said she didn't want to look at her, said that the umpire should not look at Serena, and I thought that Williams was generally obnoxious and belligerent. If I remember John McEnroe repeated several times that it should be called a let and the point replayed.

It turns out that the chair umpire was right and Samantha said nothing because she mentioned that she understood the rule, and Serena and McEnroe were wrong.

Serena later said that Samantha would have won anyway (it did not effect the outcome) but she did not apologize to the audience, to the umpire or to the TV audience. If she did, I am mistaken. McEnroe seemed to say that some other curly haired guy also argued with umpires as if to say that Serena's behavior was OK.

Now, I love Serena's game but I think her comments to the umpire was so out of line that she should have been fined. Maybe the only balls in tennis are the optic yellow ones on the court. The umpire was not the ugly person on this 9-11. Two were.