Serena Never Had A Chance at This Year’s U.S. Open
September 15, 2009 by dwil
Serena Williams explaining that she never told the lines woman she would kill her.
At 5-7, 4-5 and 15-30 in the 10th game Serena Williams was clearly frustrated with the position she was in. This semifinal match against Kim Clijsters was supposed to be yet another dominant win her run to a U.S. Open championship and her 11th Grand Slam victory. Instead she found herself two points from defeat facing a second serve to a determined mother who wasn’t going to wilt under pressure.
For Clijsters, pressure was birthing a child, then caring for and being responsible for the welfare and growth of a child. A tennis match, in comparison is a walk in the park. Since she turned pro and won the U.S. Open at the tender age of 17 Serena has know nothing but divadom. Of course there were and continue to be perils in and around the game of tennis; navigating your way through life as a public figure and balancing your own outgoing personality with your want to maintain a sense of privacy; dating another very public figure – the rapper Common – and maintaining a sense of self; and, of course there is racism.
In tennis there is always racism. And it is not the specter of racism. It is overt and powerful. It is with the players, the tournament directors and referees, chair umpires, lines people, and the fans. Let a “cute” blond play a Black woman. Ha! You’ll here the loud cheers for little miss White Girl whenever she hits a winner or wins a long, grinding point. You’ll here the polite claps when the Black woman does the same.
On the court Serena embraces her public self and her place as one of the best women’s players in the history of the game. But she has never taken kindly to someone making the odd, dirty little comment coming form the stands. They talk about her clothes. They talk about her behind. They talk about her skin color. The players hear the comments know what they mean. So do the tournament directors and referees, so do the chair umpires, as do the lines people.
But you have never, ever heard one of them demand a stop to the comments. You see, tennis is a one-on-one sport and when the only thing that separates the top players from those just below them are ephemeral ideal self components like confidence and belief in your game – the “intangibles.” And if your opponent is Black and she becomes bothered by one of those comments to the point where it effects her game, more power to you ————- and the better your chances to win the match.
It’s bad enough when the act comes from a fan, but when it leaks onto the court, racism becomes ugly.
It was ugly when at the 2001 U.S. Open Australian player Lleyton Hewitt openly and vilely cursed a Black linesman and accused him of making calls against him because Hewitt was playing James Blake whose now-deceased father was Black and his mother is White. It was said that Hewitt called the linesman a “nigger” once a mutter and a second time loud and clear.
And Hewitt was never punished by the chair umpire or the tournament referee or director Steve Early for his actions. In his press conference immediately after the match Hewitt even denied he said anything untoward to the man.
And what did the Black lines man do? Sat in his chair and suffered the indignity thrown his way by Hewitt. Hewitt was never fined for his actions. In fact, there was no proverbial slap on the wrist reprimand for the then number one male player in the world.
How did the press react to Hewitt? Check out this passage from a New York Times article on Hewitt by tennis writer Lynn Zinzer:
On the occasions when Lleyton Hewitt’s on-court antics are described as feisty and hyper-competitive — that is, when they have not crossed the line into churlish or vile — he falls seamlessly into the lineage of outrageous tennis stars who have thrived at the United States Open, a proud descendant in the Jimmy Connors branch.
No matter what side of the taste boundary Hewitt seems to be teetering on at any moment, he clearly feels at home on the courts at the National Tennis Center.
In his past five trips there, he has never finished shy of the quarterfinals. He won in 2001 and made it as far as the final last year before running into a seemingly unbeatable Roger Federer. He is seeded No. 3 this year, behind Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Whether you love him or hate him, or are simply standing clear of his flying invective, Hewitt, who is Australian, has become a New York kind of guy.
”I always get support when I come back,” Hewitt said Saturday, leaning back in a chair at a Manhattan hotel ballroom where he had just announced a clothing and shoe deal.
”The crowds have been awesome,” he said. ”I think they know that every time I step on the court I’m going to give 100 percent. I think that’s the kind of attitude that a lot of New York people have here as well.”
A typical Hewitt match is manic and jarring, with unpredictable bursts of profanity. It bears a striking resemblance to a cab ride from La Guardia to Manhattan.
While New Yorkers have witnessed some of Hewitt’s greatest successes, they have watched an ugly moment as well. In 2001, Hewitt demanded that an African-American linesman be removed after insinuating that his rulings were sympathetic to his opponent, James Blake, who is black.
Hewitt often disputes the harsh interpretations of his on-court rants — he said the Blake incident had nothing to do with race — but seems to have no intention of calming down. Relatively laid-back off the court, he says he does not work himself into on-court lathers; they simply happen.
”That’s just your personality coming out, more than anything,” Hewitt said. ”It’s good for tennis. It’s good for any sport to have those rivalries, to have everyone’s personalities different. That’s why tennis was so good when you had McEnroe, Connors and Borg at the top of the game, because they were all three different personalities and played different styles of the game as well.”
Ahhh, yes Hewitt was clearly heard cursing the black linesman by many fans in the crowd. One white fan sitting very close to the scene that day told this reporter that he clearly heard Hewitt call the linesman a nigger.
But Zinser describes Hewitt as “feisty and hyper-competitive” as well as “churlish and vile” and says his attitude is similar to that of former tennis great, Jimmy Connors.
As Zinser wrote, the New York, U.S. Open crowds do absolutely love Hewitt precisely because of his attitude. They identify with Hewitt’s primal “Come on!” scream. They identify with him scurrying around the court thinking that no shot hit by his opponent is out of his range to retrieve.
They also identified with him berating, cursing, and calling a Black man a nigger, too.
You see, Lleyton Hewitt is a blond-haired White boy who is said to be “cute,” while James Blake, though he was voted one of the world’s 100 sexiest men by People magazine, is Black.
That is what Serena Williams and her sister Venus deal with tournament in and tournament out.
But you would think that, after watching U.S. players get the shaft from crowd at the other three grand slams when an American plays an opponent from Australia at the Australian Open, France at the French Open, or England at Wimbledon, they would be tirelessly vociferous in their support of American players, while cheering politely for their opponents. Yet when “Dear Little Kimmy” as tennis historian Bud Collins called Clijsters, played Serena Williams at this year’s U.S. Open, Clijsters was overwhelmingly the crowd favorite.
Dear Little Kimmy is blond-haired and blue-eyed, and possesses a genuine winning smile, and a kind, gentle voice with a lilting Belgian-European accent.
At 5-7, 4-5 and 15-30 and facing a second serve, Serena Williams never had a chance. After she tossed the ball in the air to hit her second serve, she turned her foot to the side as she has tens of thousands of times in the past.
“Foot fault!” Came the cry from the lines woman on the baseline. This was the second time in the Open that Williams was inexplicably called for a foot-fault. It is a call she has never endured. The first time this occurred she stood and stared at the lines man for a good 30 seconds, saying nothing.
But this was different. The call meant the point was automatically over; 15-40 and two match points coming for Clijsters. After a few seconds Serena turned to the woman and lit into her. At one point she shook the ball at the tiny Asian woman and said:
“I ought to shove this ball down your fucking throat.”
The woman jumped up from her seat and walked quickly to the chair umpire. Williams turned, received a ball to hit her second serve. With the lines woman seated once again, Serena bounced the ball once, stopped and began berating the lines woman once more. This time the woman leapt from her chair and ran to the chair. Seconds later tournament referee Brian Early and tournament supervisor Donna Kelso appeared on the court and talked with the lines woman. The Asian could be seen talking and patting her chest and looking over he shoulder in what appeared to be abject fear at Williams. When Serena got to the three people she overheard the lines woman tell Kelso and Early that Williams said she was going to kill her, to which Serena replied loudly:
“I never said I was going to kill you! Are you serious! I never said that!”
A woman in the crowd could be heard yelling, lying, “Yeah ya did!”
The lines woman backed away from Williams and looked helplessly at Early as if mortally afraid Serena was going to strike her with her tennis racket; Williams was paying her no mind.
Serena Williams seeking an explanation for being given a match-ending penalty by Brian Early and Donna Kelso.
Early and Kelso decided to give Williams a penalty for her outburst. Because Serena received another inexplicable call – warning – after she broke her racket after losing the first set, the penalty for the tirade directed at the lines woman resulted in a loss of point which meant the match was suddenly over. Players break their rackets in frustration often. If they do this during play, they must play another point with the racket before switching to another racket or they receive a warning for unseemly behavior from the chair umpire. However, it is extremely rare for the chair to give a warning to a player for breaking their racket at their changeover seat as did Williams. It is even rarer for a warning to be given later in tournament matches such as the semifinals or finals of a championship.
But there was Serena, again suffering an unwarranted indignity from the chair umpire because she expressed her frustration built from losing a first set she had every opportunity to control and win.
Racism? No claim of this can be made. Yet it is odd that the call made made; odder still because Clijsters had become the tournament darling on the women’s side of the draw, especially since 17-year old American Melanie Oudin’s tournament run ended. The overwhelming sentiment in the press and among the fans was that a Clijsters upset of Serena would be the best thing to happen for the women’s draw. And a Kim Clijsters-Caroline Wozniacki finals would mean two “cute” blonds with winning smiles and lilting Euro-accents playing each other.
What a better visage for the grossly White crowd and especially for CBS’ television audience. Williams had been so dominant in so many Grand Slam events in the past two years there was much talk that, although number one-ranked Dinara Safina was more consistent in other tournaments, she was yet to win a Grand Slam event and had played deplorably in this year’s Open, losing in the third round after nearly losing in each of the first two rounds. The talk was that the true number one female tennis player in the world was Serena Williams.
With Williams absent from the U.S. Open fnals, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) could effectively put an end to all the, ‘is Dinara or Serena number one’ talk. The WTA could point to Safina’s consistency during the year and dismiss Williams. No one can ever make the claim that the lines judges and chair umpires had this consciously on their minds during the Open.
But no one can claim the who is number one argument, combined with the prospect of a Clijsters-Wozniacki finals, did not subconsciously affect their judgement, either.
As to the Asian woman’s inability to discern the metaphor of Serena saying she would shove the ball down her throat and then acting out her fear of Williams, the woman’s acts speak to woldviews many Asians hold toward Black people rooted in the days of Marco Polo sailing to the Far East in search of spices and opium in ships manned by African slaves. When the people of the Orient queried Polo about the Black men because they had never seen people of this hue, he told them they were animals and never to be trusted or perceived in the same light as White Europeans or the people of the Orient.
Polo’s words were passed on orally, at least, and in too many quarters 800 years later are held as true today.
And rather than sit and quietly endure Williams’ profanity-laced outburst a do all other lines people, the tiny in stature Asian woman looked like she expected Serena to beat her, drag her to some desolate locale in Queens, boil her in an huge “Chinawood” style black iron kettle Africans were cinematically portrayed as using for their White prey, and swallow her whole.
And there she was at this critical juncture of a tennis match, attempting to do what, no one knows. A lines person will call a foot fault on a habitual foot-faulter early in a match to let them know they will make the call later. At that late moment in the match if Serena hadn’t foot-faulted earlier, there was no good reason to make the call unless the lines person felt Williams was attempting to gain an unfair advantage by stepping on the baseline before she struck the ball. And from the replays, if Serena did touch the baseline with her shoe, it was just barely so as to be negligible in effect.
The call amounted to a wholly a unwarranted egregious error in judgement.
For Serena Williams, it seemed like somewhere in her head she knew she knew she underestimated Clijsters. She also knew was about to lose her U.S. Open semifinal match to a woman who had played but three tournaments this summer in her comeback attempt. The foot fault call, though worth a brief admonishment, was made at a time where a complete meltdown was as egregious an act as was the call itself. It almost seemed like Serena was subconsciously looking for a place to hide in shame for losing this match – and the call gave her the out she sought.
For the lines woman, as soon as Williams turned on her, she was faced with an ancient fear of Blackness; the cancer spread gleefully worldwide and for centuries by Europeans. In an instant she became sick, and like a person first confronted with the knowledge of their own death, she ran ————- to the descendants of the Europeans who gave her the deadly virus in the first place. And in them she sought solace and a cure.
For Early and Kelso, they could always say Williams’ acts painted them into a corner; that in no way did they want such a thrilling match to end that way. Blah, blah, blah.
Neither of those people wanted to hand the winners trophy to Williams again. They wanted to face a “cute” blond who looked like she could be their daughter. They wanted to hear the racist New York crowd scream in approval at not having to witness the dominating Negress pounding her way around the court, bludgeoning tennis ball after tennis ball by her opponent, screaming in wild night voodoo sub-Saharan delight after winning a key point, faking her love for all things White in Arthur Ashe, while collecting yet another million dollar payday off their backs, and then walking away with her rapper boyfriend an their very own Black version of Entourage that most assuredly does not include anyone nicknamed “Turtle.”
It was the oddest confluence of events. And in a strange way, everyone got their way.
Only in New York, only in New York.
The picture on this article is classic man. She is in full-on sister mode. Like she bout to snatch that heifer.
Eff it. She shouldn’t have gone left like that, but I can understand getting pissed. The double standards are so tiring man, just so tiring. And the saddest thing is all the black folks saying “Oh Serena and Kanye just embarassed us.”
Negroes please.
Big Man, to paraphrase James Baldwin who once said, When the enemy rises up against me, it makes me stronger… when my people rises up against me, it tears me down.
While I ‘m not a fan of Beyonce, what Kanye did was real African Warrior. To step up on stage and piss in the face of White Supremacy is nothing any of these other lawn jockeys will ever do. It just shows how fucked up she was when she then brought that girl back on stage to coo over her.
As for Serena…what can be said that wasn’t said here already. Every time we figure out the game, they change the playing field and the game. In the White Supremacy system there is no rest for the weary.
It would be interesting though if the sisters, took some time off, as dwill or Phil Deez said. How would women’s tennis look then?
@ Sankofa,
Let the white folks that have hated on The Sisters since Day 1 have their shitty little game back. I don’t like punk bitches who, when getting beat at their own game, want to move the goalposts or fold them up and go home.
Kim Clijsters, the way she’s played the last few months, should win the Grand Slam next year, then. I have a feeling that Venus and Serena will be ready for her. Despite the end to her Grand Slam season, Serena’s had a year that most players would die for. Two more Slams in the singles and three Slams in doubles with Big Sis. Five Slams in one year. That’s a hell of a haul of trophies coming in.
Sankofa
Usually we agree, but I’m going to have to disagree on Kanye. I don’t care about him having a different opinion, but the way he expressed himself, and handled that little girl was a wack.
I mean, I didn’t watch the awards, but from the clips I saw, he was pretty rude to that chick. If he had a problem with the voting, he has the platform to express himself without wrecking that girl’s moment.
It’s cool to have an opinion and express it. But, a man recognizes that his actions affect other people and he governs himself accordingly. Making rash, stupid pronouncments about stupid videos is pointless in general, but when you have to be rude and obnoxious to make your point, well that’s a bit much.
With Serena I gave her a small pass because she was in the middle of a match and just got hosed by the ref. Since I’ve been in that position, it’s easy for me to understand her ire. I must admit it’s harder for me to understand why Kanye was so mad, particularly since Beyonce WON the award for best video later. Just seemed stupid to me.
But I wasn’t embarassed by it. Kanye ain’t me and he ain’t my child.
Both Serena and Venus should leave tennis. Leave it behind. See how well the women’s game does without them, see how much people actually care. They’re the only recognizable names on that tour. Melanie Oudin’s run was interesting, but her serve killed her and unless that gets better, she isn’t. Meanwhile, Serena Williams lost on a BS call, essentially — especially considering that the history of men yelling at line judges and umpires stretches from Jimmy Connors to John McEnroe to Lleyton Hewiit’s nasty remarks and, yes, even Roger Federer’s repeated cussing at the ump over del Potro’s challenge yesterday.
It’s all the same: if you’re a woman, you can’t do that; if you’re a black woman, you REALLY can’t do that. Women’s tennis needs the Williams sisters more than they need it right now. They’re its only star power, its only serious American link among a bevy of sub-par Eastern Europeans who are hard to tell apart.
sankofa – I dunno about sympathy for Kanye. I’d have more sympathy for him if MTV, y’know, actually played videos any more. That’s a BS popularity contest, and I wonder just how much of it was a stunt on his part.
S2N-
Women curse at lines people and the chair all the time. Though tennis, overall, is sexist, when it comes to equal opportunity cursing on the court, tennis lead the way. And this incident had noting at all to do with sexism. Additionally, the U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam even to award the men and women the same prize money.
But. Yes it would be interesting to see what the WTA Tour and tennis, in general, would do with the women’s game if the sisters walked.
@ Dwil,
I find it funny that men like Mike Krzyzewski, one of the foulest mouths in college basketball, rarely, if ever, get punished for verbally abusing game officials. Serena has this blow-up and it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened in sport? Both McEnroes, Mary Carillo, etc. are selectively enforcing the rules.
I watched the replay on the “foot fault” and that lines judge had it all wrong. Serena’s feet were not only behind the line during her motion, they were parallel TO the line. No reason to make the call there.
Big Man,
Yeah, a lot of people want to lump the two together you and I both know that it ain’t the same. One was an honest reaction to a b.s. call, and perhaps a release of other things left unsaid for too long.
The other was some b.s. that I didn’t watch and am having trouble mustering up the proper outrage one way or the other. I didn’t know people still watched MTV award shows. Those shows are lame as hell. Heck, i’m no T.V. snob because I can watch some vapid ish from time to time but damn the VMA’s? Who gives a sh*t? Didn’t ‘Ol Dirty Bastard pull this same stunt some years ago? Didn’t the MTV movie awards have some cat stick his ass in eminems face recently? And wasn’t that staged? Seriously, I ain’t giving MTV or anthing on that there any of my rapidly diminishing time on this earth. At this point the whole network is like a bunch of media whores producing faux outrageosness and faux outrage.
Having said that, I used to watch VH1 Soul when I had cable. Loved that channel.
Too busy cussing SNF and playing Halo2 to even realize the VMAs were on…and yeah, it’s been months if not a year or so where I’ve actually turned on MTV to see a video being played!
As far as the Williams sisters, they did win the doubles crown, so no worries over here…
@ All,
Looks like the media’s butt-boy Federer has a potty mouth, too…..
http://deadspin.com/5359745/what-is-wrong-with-our-angry-tennis-players
Clear obscenity at the chair. Plain as day. No bitch-ass fans saying “yeah, you did” like the little racist liars that they are. Just plain video and audio of Federer bitching like a little girl. But everybody loves him.
Good stuff, Dwil.
I’m going to throw out a “Yeah, but” on this overall Serena discussion, as in,
YEAH she berated the official (frankly, not that big an offense in my mind) and yeah we know she said, ““I ought to shove this ball down your fucking throat,” in doing so — bad, but not the worst ever, not really worth the code violation, IMO — BUT we don’t know what else she said, in the second exchange … the one that wasn’t picked up on microphone, right before the linesperson trotted over to the chair. Maybe that’s the one the earned the violation for her?
Anyway, unfortunate ending … more unfortunate was Serena’s post-match conference, where I think she did more damage to herself than in the tirade itself.
Phil-
The funny thing about Fed is that, compared w/ Nadal and Roddick and whatever the flavor of the day is, these fools can’t seem to wait for him to lose! As I’ve noted, they even talk shit about his game now!
I thought what he said was a priceless tirade ———– that deserved a warning, just like breaking a racket is a warning…. just like cursing the chair is supposed to be.
LAPR-
Thanks… and true on all counts.
TO ALL-
Another thing about tennis and chair umps: they carry lists of words and phrases of curse words and other incendiary language in the country a player is from to the court with them so, when the women or men of, say Serbia are playing and the chair is from the U.S. or wherever and doesn’t know them, they can hear know what’s being said and still assess a warning or point or match penalty.
On OTL this afternoon they had Patrick Mac, Juan Williams, and Dave Zirin on. As soon as Zirin brought up Johnny Mac, Bob Ley went into defense mode saying he J Mac never said anything that required a bleep!!!! Even his brother had to disagree! But when DZ talked about past players P Mac went into defense mode and said forget about the past let’s concentrate on what happened now (!!!).
As if the past doesn’t impact the present and does not act as a template for the future.
Amazing…
Meantime Williams was calling for civility in sports and said we’re and out-of-control society (which is largely true – agreeing w/ Juan W is scary!).
Dwil
Civility in sports is a pipe dream. Most sports, if not all, require you to tap into your internal feelings of aggression and dominance. Those feelings aren’t really conducive to a civil exchange.
I think it’s a sign of the ridiculous expectations that the media puts on athletes, particularly black ones, that people are so shocked by what Serena and that kid from Oregon did. To me, as a somebody who has played sports on a minor level, it made perfect sense.
dwil – obviously you know tennis better than I do and I won’t question that. I just find it funny that women are expected to be so damn dainty in athletic competition — I’m not debating the race point; I just think Serena’s victim of the double whammy. Civility in sports is real, real hard when we, as fans and viewers, like to see dominance and pure excellence. I want to cosign what Big Man said on that.
As for OTL — that’s why I don’t watch it any more.
Ummm, DWil can you tell me exactly – and I mean precisely – the point at which “cute” and Kim Clijsters go together?
(ha ha. you know i get your point, bro, but damn…i’m just sayin…)
Poet – Ouch!! (and too funny.)
LP-
I KNOW!!!! (lmfao!!!) That she gets the “cute” tag is funnier than hell, huh?
I remember that tennis match between James Blake and Lleyton Hewitt. James was up two sets to none, if I am not mistaken, and Hewitt’s comments unnerved Blake and to a certain extent sidetracked James’ career. Blake didn’t make an issue out of it, but I believe it clearly affected him.
This is what Hewitt had said:
“Look at him,” Hewitt said, gesturing at the linesman. “And look at him,” pointing at Blake. “You tell me what the similarity is.
“You put him off the court, get him off the court.”
US Open tournament referee Brian Early said the USTA and the International Tennis Federation “will review the videotape, speak with all parties involved and issue a statement at the appropriate time.”
The Hewitt ‘incident’ quietly went away and then came the September 11th, 2001 tragedy had also helped to make people forget Hewitt’s racist tirade.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/in_depth/2001/us_open_tennis/1520183.stm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dUGXtiMNqk&feature=related
If anyone is interested this is the video of the James Blake-Lleyton Hewitt 2001 incident.
A white dude complaining about the fact that the linesmen in tennis is the same color as a black player is hilarious.
Really, it’s beyond rich.
Berating a linesperson usually includes lots of screaming, callling them stupid and blind and cluless and then mix a handful of cuss words for affect. I’ve never heard a player make some comment like cramming a ball down your throat. If thats OK then is it OK to say I’m gonna shove this racket up your a$$ or beat you over the head with my racket? Serena had been frustrated most of the match mostly due to the fact that she underestimated Clijsters and didn’t really have a game plan. It was very surprising to watch considering how well she had been playing. I think she knew she was done and was frustarted just enough to throw that tirade, get penalized the point and get the hell out of there.
LOL. I was thinking the same thing about the cute stuff with Kim Clijsters. She’s a lot of things but cute ain’t one of them. But, it really is amazing how obvious, and sad and pathetic, the “cute blond” thing is with tennis.
By the way, folks, there’s tape on the veritably dewy Miss Sharapova asking a linesman and I quote, “Are you fucking kidding me?” on a let call. Two years ago. Hardly reported.
More from Federer. At a match at the French Open, Federer was playing Djokovic and told Djokovic’s family in the family box to be quiet. Just yelled it during a break in play.
There’s tape of Roddick bitching at a chair umpire. And Pete Sampras, America’s #1 bitch-boy, bitching at a chair umpire and telling him to stop smirking in quite uppity fashion.
Federer, Sharapova, Sampras and Roddick are generally thought to be good sports on the tour. But the tape suggests otherwise. Venus Williams isn’t a chronic complainer at all. She’s pretty stoic.
But bravo to The Sisters for laying the smack down in the doubles. Rest up for the season-ending championships, get some rest and back to work for the Aussie. I think it’s time for another group of Sister Slams and let the haters hate.
@Headfake,
When Kim Clijsters plays like she did the other night? No woman on the planet can beat her. Even Serena at her best. Clijsters, in her whole underachieving (given her talent) career has NEVER hit the ball like that, moved like that or served like that. Serena during the Serena Slam might not’ve been that singularly dominant as far as playing clean power tennis with virtually no errors.
Either Clijsters had the match of her life or she’s got more Slams in her.
Phil Deeze,
“The match of her life”. Clijsters tweeted that before the Finals.
You don’t think Serena “at her best” could beat Clijsters “at her best”? I disagree. No doubt Clijsters played great. I thought Serena figured she could beat Clijsters at her own game which is getting back everything, taking few chances and minimizing unforced errors. I think a better strategy would have been for Serena to try and get to the net more often and also to mix in more short shots to fget Clijsters to come in some as well. Serena didnt serve well and had also twice as many unforced errors and it was still close. It’s not like she got blown out and she pretty much struggled all night.
Back on here properly chastised but with an explanation. Considering that I don’t watch any music awards show, nor am I a fan of Kanye West, I guess I just got caught up in the image of an African challenging the shitstym and gleefully spoke out without giving serious thought. Big man you are correct, in that…
…” I didn’t watch the awards, but from the clips I saw, he was pretty rude to that chick. If he had a problem with the voting, he has the platform to express himself without wrecking that girl’s moment. It’s cool to have an opinion and express it. But, a man recognizes that his actions affect other people and he governs himself accordingly. Making rash, stupid pronouncements about stupid videos is pointless in general, but when you have to be rude and obnoxious to make your point, well that’s a bit much.”
And S2N I wasn’t seeking sympathy but my pronouncement was in error and I guess I came across less than enlightened, especially since all I saw was a clip on my computer with no sound. Still, sometimes the unexpected is provided by the unlikeliest people in order to draw attention to long time abuse of African people in the music industry. While all of you are correct in that that music award show is a stupid time waster and Kanye is not going to lead anybody to consciousness, I am prepared for more chastisement from my family as I contend that I don’t feel sorry for her. She is a casualty of an ongoing war between White Supremacy and African people. Too many of us are casualties ourselves for me to feel otherwise.
I don’t want say anymore so as not to come across as supporting stupidity. I would rather lurk on here and read the more informed comment about the William sisters and how White Supremacy’s hatred causes them to cut off their own nose to spite their faces. In this case kill the ebony gooses that are bringing interest to women’s tennis.
Peace
Great freaking article D.
And Sankofa I agree with what you are saying. I am happy that Kanye said it……….not that I support him. Hell I don’t support any mainstream music besides neo-soul or support anything by racist KKK Viacom.
Its the fact that him saying it just shows how bad racism really is in this sick country. And it showed how many artist like Beyonce pander to their white fans. Who buy most of their music.
All that money and she is no different to other black million and billionaires who are nothing more then rich slaves.
It also is a wakeup call to artist like Kanye that even though your white fans buy your music you are nothing more then an N-word who can rap……… to them.
Its amazing that a man can boo the president and call him a racist and still get less heat then Kanye taking a microphone from a poor white girl.
Shit Imus called black girls nappy headed hoes and didn’t get this much heat.
I just wish Kanye would have flipped it and said “I did this because thats what Country/Rock singers do………..and they do it all the time.”
Oh and AWB……………IMO anyone who believes this wasn’t planned and a stunt is crazy.
This is MTVs / Viacoms Motto…………..lets look back.
Britany and Madonna (old nasty ass) kiss on stage (MTV awards).
Howard (stern racist ass) gets in a costume and swings from the air as fart man (MTV awards).
Jamie Foxx kisses Halle and grabs her butt (MTV movie awards).
Bruno has a g string on and rubs his butt on eminems head. Eminem gets upset and supposedly gets walked out (MTV award show). We later find out that this was staged.
Then lets not forget that Viacom threw a superbowl half time show in which a white dude pulls a black womans top off. Kid rock cuts holes in an american flag and wears it. And Puffy/Nellie perform grabbing their nuts. This all happens during the half time show.
This is Viacom/MTVs motto all the way.
Yeap if you think this shit was real you must be real crazy.
Now lets not forget all the lovely staged shows that come or have come on Viacom’s VH1, BET and MTV From Chance of Love, Real World, College Hill, Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, Charm Girls, I Love New York, Tool Academy……..lord I could go on and on.
These are all shows based on the same concept of all the MTV award shows…… shock, awe and outrage.
And folks talk about BET being the worst of the black community.
Damn so what the fuck is MTV when it comes to the white community.
Cause atleast black folks have stood outside the CEO of BET home in protest. Atleast held them accountable some what and made BET change their shows and lineups.
I mean who the hell is calling out MTV for the toxic waste that they air on their station………………….NO ONE.
Oh and D do you know that Serena and Kanye have gotten millions of hits calling them N-words on twitter over the last 3 days.
I have to give it to these young necks they know how to hate just like their parents and grand parents.
awwww post racial America…………..so much better then that old racist America.
“I have to give it to these young necks they know how to hate just like their parents and grandparents”
Origin…pictures the planet as a car stolen by people like the above. The minute you steal a car, you’re going to drive the heck out of it. You’re pissed ’cause it’s not your car, so you smash it up and then abandon it. The haters in America Inc. and in other parts of the planet that support White Supremacy are vexed, because they know their play is in the final act and there’s no encore.
They’re wilding out because that’s what extinct entities do, thrash about till the end…and if they take a few “others” with them, it satisfies some morbid personality trait in them.
Well said Sankofa.
Origin,
Word. Look how much mileage they are getting out of this ish. All so they can look “edgy” to youngsters who are probably losing interest in their wack ass chanel, if they haven’t already lost interest. Their network is fugazi
Sankofa,
Exactly, this craziness is the death throes of the status quo. Like a body evacuating it’s bowels and twitching as it dies/
@ Headfake,
Clijsters, that night, was the hardest hitter on the tour, bar none. She was KILLING the ball and flattening it out in a way that a floater that Serena could come in on and put away was impossible. Clijsters was hitting the ball from well behind the baseline on defense and still dictacting points. Serena never could consolidate enough breakers to give herself a cushion and normally, she doesn’t need that, but the other night? Ummm, yeah.
Now, you could account for Clijsters’ general starch in her legs and stroke production since she hasn’t played a full season, so she’s fresh when the rest of the tour is a little banged up, naturally, so that’s fully understandable. Maybe, just maybe we see Clijsters fall off a tad on sharpness match-to-match if she plays the typical weekly schedule that many Euros do to amp up ratings points for the rankings.
It will be interesting to see what Serena does in response. The announcers mentioned that Venus and Serena are no longer each other’s hitting partners and therefore maybe Serena wasn’t ready for a player that she couldn’t blow off the court after all the other seeds fell out of the tournament. Maybe. Frankly, I’d need to see the Venus/Clijsters match to see how the 2nd and 3rd sets played out. Venus bagelled the eventual champ and one break of serve decided the third set. Interesting match-up.
Again, Serena’s response to Jennifer Capriati’s rise? She outlasted Jennifer and came back to win Slams. After the knee injury and Sharapova’s rise? She showed up “overweight” at the Aussie Open and delivered an ass-whippin’ for the ages. And here we are at another crossroads in Serena’s career.
WHY IS ESPN TRYING TO BRING KAYNE WEST INTO THIS SERENA STORY? Totally unnecessary at this point.
Vince Doria may be bouncing around ideas to OUTSIDE THE LINES about having a ‘federal’ investigation in regard to Serena (maybe trying to get the Asian lines-woman to sue ) or try to have her banned from Grand Slam events in an effort to make her ‘an example’?
Just a few days ago Novak Djovivick (sp) was (mocking) or celebrating John McEnroe’s history of bad on-court behavior and people laughed and laughed. There had been commercials about the ‘fiesty’ McEnroe or even Jimmy Connors. And McEnroe’s brother had the audacity to bring up the linesman story when the Williams sisters won their 10th grand slam doubles title. Tacky as hell and the crowd let little brother McEnroe know it. Venus interceded and said it’s time to move on.
Kanye got checked! America let him know just how they felt about him. If he had done the same thing to Lil Mama or Mary J. we wouldn’t be hearing about this madness. I was listening to V-103 here in Atlanta and I heard the hosts of the morning show giving Yeezy the business about being crazy and suicidal but 10 seconds later giving a shout out to T.I. who is doing Fed time for buying automatic weapons and silencers. WTF!! Also, whats the deal with Barack calling Yeezy a jack ass but giving Wilson a pass?
Gotta love those fine ass Williams sisters!! Venus with all those legs and Serena with all that everything!!! I love the way they came back and got that ass in the doubles and checked McEnroe in the interview. Beyonce needs a little more Venus and Serena and a little less Aunt Jemima.
I really hate the paternalism that we see in the media. Its like America has decided it needs to teach Kanye and Serena a lesson. Make them an example of whats wrong in entertainment and sports. Please GTFOH with that hypocrisy!!! I saw a commercial a few minutes ago for National Rent-a-Car with McEnroe doing his old “you got to be kidding” voice. You gotta love how bold people are!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWr1BotuWBQ
Roger Federer abusing umpire. Selective bad behavior with officials?
MacTown.
……” ABC News reporter Terry Moran claims that during a CNBC interview on Monday — off camera of course — Barack Obama referred to Kanye West as a “jackass” for his behavior.
Moran actually supposedly posted the allegation on his Twitter account which of course has since been removed.
Since then, an ABC spokesperson has reportedly posted a public apology/statement for the mistake of Terry Moran…..”
Patrick and TO ALL-
Neither the quote nor the video tell anywhere near the complete story of that incident. I’ll explain it in detail, since it now appears that what Hewitt said was less than what it was………….
I coached a nationally-ranked kid in the 18-and-unders in the USTA Northern Section (Minneapolis). His dad was a big-wig in the USTA. The tickets sectional big-wigs are provided for the US Open are great. The seats are often at player level, which gives their kids first shot at getting autographs and player swag.
His seats were third row almost directly behind the linesman when he was on the baseline. The day after the match I called him and asked what the hell that was with Hewitt. This is basically what he told me: Before the foot faults were called – and Hewitt not only turns to the side when he serves but tends to step into the court, too, so foot faults were common with him – he was starting to bet into it with the linesman.
It began with the linesman over a couple of close calls. He didn’t go to the chair and the camera wasn’t focusing on Hewitt talking smack to the linesman. He asked if he knew Blake [off the court]. He asked if he was related to Blake. He also asked if they lived in the same “hood.” … he literally said “HOOD,” albeit sardonically.
Over a three-changeover period Hewitt intermittently fought with the linesman, who never said a word to Hewitt and fought with the chair. At one point Hewitt said, “Bloke, you’re awful. Maybe you should take off the shades because you’re missing all the calls – for me.” He was muttering all this while toweling off. Right at the point when he began to walk to return serve, looked up toward his coach and muttered, “I’m getting fucked by this nigger.”
A changeover later, when Hewitt was on the far side, away from him there was another close call. When he got back to the side where the linesperson was, Hewitt lit into him again. At the end of his little diatribe he said, “What’s wrong with you nigger?! Can’t you fucking see?!”
The kid’s dad told me his entire section heard Hewitt. When he and his buddies looked around they could tell everyone behind Hewitt heard what he said. He said he even saw photographers talking amongst each other, shaking their heads in disbelief over what Hewitt was saying.
Now, people can say this guy was lying, but I don’t see why a 50-something year-old White man who is a doctor would care to lie about what he saw and heard in the intimate moments between Hewitt and the linesman, the moments CBS didn’t want to catch; the ones they had no interest in catching because Hewitt was a young tennis star at the time.
However, during the night matches shown, at the time on the USA network, John McEnroe and Jim Courier, who was watching the match from the tunnel, talked about what was said. Courier said pretty much what Hewitt said and told McEnroe it was way worse than what was reported and talked about the racial statements Hewitt was making. AND. If I’m not mistaken, Hewitt was point-blank asked if he called the linesman a nigger. That never made it off of the USA interviewing room and into the mainstream. And that was odd because Hewitt, what he said, and the aplomb with which Blake handled the situation were discussed for every day after the incident during USA’s match coverage – all the way to the following Thursday night, which was traditionally USA’s last evening of coverage before CBS took it over exclusively.
Unfortunately, no article or video has ever done the incident justice because everyone focused on the chatter between Hewitt and the chair, not the entire affair and because there was interest in protecting the “next great Aussie.”
Mactown-
Obama probably did call Wilson a jackass, likely worse (who knows for sure), but off the record. He called Kanye a jackass off the record, and another jackass (masquerading as a reporter) decided to tell everybody.
What’s crazy to me is the focus is on Obama, but no one is mad at the reporter who violated journalistic conduct. He probably thought he was doing it for the public good or something. But the headlines are about the President’s personal opinion (which he is allowed to have, and “jackass-esque” is probably a less racist version of what most people in the country think of Kanye’s actions, though it should not translate to Kanye=black people), not the reporter’s major breach of professional conduct.
Two things.
One, as a person of asian ancestry I really resent some of the language in your article. The fact that the woman was asian was meaningless and trying to say that we have been racist since Polo is just disgusting. Our community has been through hard times as well.The fact that we have been driven apart by Reagan’s “model minority” comments is a tragedy and classic imperialist techniques.
Secondly, for whatever reason we’re talking about Kanye now so I will say that I would like for people to stand up for those wronged. Beyonce was not wronged. Single Women was a terrible song with a terrible video. I saw Chuck D speak at my college not too long ago and he summed up everything wrong with it better than I can so look it up. The real tragedy was that the best female video (which I still don’t get why they separate singing and acting awards like this anyway) this year, St. Vincent’s “Actor Out of Work”, didn’t even get nominated. But its MTV’s awards show; hardly a hallmark of taste and integrity anyway.
Kevin-
Agreed about Beyonce’s video….
However, the rough times the Asian community, in general, have gone through are completely separate from the thoughts on black people shared by Asian people who were contacted by Marco Polo and later, the many, many galleons of the Dutch East India Company that sailed to Indonesia. The slaves who manned those ships were consistently portrayed as less than people – animals, in fact – and were said not to be trusted.
The resultant worldview of many of the descendants of those people toward Black people is not a myth, thanks in large part to the context of original contact with Black people and who had power over the Africans in those ships.
That the lines woman erroneously told the supervisor and referee that Serena said she was going to kill her, that as soon as Serena turned toward her, she leapt from her chair and ran to the chair umpire, that she acted as I described is a reaction borne out of what?
I’m sorry if you perceived the general term, ‘Asians” to mean all Asian people. That was not my goal. However, so many Asian people’s worldviews of, at the time, Africans, were impacted by Eurpoeans, I used the term generally. I’ll change it so that no one is confused or taken aback by the statement.
But. You should also understand that after that generalization I wrote:
Polo’s words were passed on orally, at least, and in too many quarters 800 years later are held as true today.
I did not write “all Asians.” And that the worldview is still held in too many quarters the Far East is, again, no myth, as many people in that part of the world have yet to actually see a Black person of any descent and only know of black people at all from Europeans centuries ago.
You see, one of the goals of conquest has always been to divide peoples in other lands. And what better way to do so than to gain their trust and then spread disinformation about other people you know someone else has never seen – which serves to lead to an automatic division when they do come into contact with each other.
@ Dwil,
I remember the Hewitt outburst and Andre Agassi just BLASTED the guy and said that “there’s no place in tennis” for what he said and did on the court that day. I do also know that James Blake is generally very well-liked on and off the court. He enjoyed a lot of adulation from the female fans particularly when he wore his braids; however, his gentlemanly conduct is usually juxtaposed against the Williams family and held up as an example. Thing is, he doesn’t win Slams, bottom line while Venus and Serena do.
Mainstream tennis would like to put everyone in a box. Like I said earlier, kids coming up like Madison and Sloane need to be very careful about their image. It needs to be a winning one, but don’t lose sight of who you are and how you can be labelled and sold as a commodity.
On the Obama thing
He got shafted. He made an off the record comment. Reminds me of what happened to Jesse Jackson with Hymietown back in the day.
I don’t have a problem with the president thinking Kanye is a jackass. I think Kanye is a jackass. I would have had a problem if Obama made a public comment about Kanye, but since he didn’t, I’m cool.
“Its amazing that a man can boo the president and call him a racist and still get less heat then Kanye taking a microphone from a poor white girl.”
-The hatred on Kanye, I mean, the hate beyond “He was a Jackass” is entirely related to white America’s lingering inability to deal with it’s racialist fears. The image of this very dark man physically confronting this blond blue-eyed skinny girl struck a nerve in white folks that they can’t or won’t admit exists. Anything other than a dark-skinned man and a blond blue-eyed girl and this thing is a blip. Which it will be in time anyway.
-Serena was shafted, but her words did deserve penalty. I don’t mind the cursing, it’s the verbal expression of a a physical threat that made what she said over the top. She deserved a point penalty, no more, no less
-Hewitt should have been suspended off tour for a year for his words.
-Obama is too smart to not know the possibility of his off the record words being made public. His willingness to call Kanye a jackass, while not calling out Joe Wilson and then rebuffing Jimmy Carter’s take on the whole thing was pathetic. His lowest moment as President so far IMO.
-Watched the Ashe/Connors Wimbledon match from 1975 last night. I don’t know Tennis well, but damn if they didn’t look like they’d both have been swamped by Serena on a good day. Does Wood v. Graphite make THAT much difference?