September 15, 2009
September 14, 2009
Williams Sisters win US Open Doubles Title
Venus and Serena Williams claimed their 10th Grand Slam doubles championship Monday by defeating World #1 and defending Champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-2, 6-2 at the US Open. This is the Williams Sisters 2nd US Open Doubles title. Serena and Venus will split a $420,000 winner's check for their first U.S. Open title since 1999. It was the third Slam title of the year for the Williams sisters after wins at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. "I have a great partner," Venus Williams said. "I believe in her just as much as I believe in myself." Black and Huber top the season rankings but struggle to outplay the Williams sisters in the year's major events. "They are bigger and stronger than us and they serve much better than us," Black said. "Although we're ranked number one, they are definitely our stiffest competition."
Patrick McEnroe conducted the post-match interview on court and Williams sounded contrite but didn't apologize. "I'd like to thank the fans for supporting me through everything," she said to applause from a few thousand fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium. "I really, really love you guys and never want to have a bad image for you guys." McEnroe asked two follow-up questions, but was interrupted by booing on the second one, as he tried to ask her "what clicked" in her mind over the past 48 hours to trigger the apology, which came a day after she'd issued a first statement that didn't include one. Big sister Venus stepped in. "I think what the crowd is saying is, 'Patrick, let's move on,'" Venus said.
Serena amends previous press statement
I want to amend my press statement of yesterday, and want to make it clear as possible – I want to sincerely apologize FIRST to the lines woman, Kim Clijsters, the USTA, and tennis fans everywhere for my inappropriate outburst. I’m a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit when I’m wrong.
I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it’s not the way to act — win or lose, good call or bad call in any sport, in any manner. I like to lead by example. We all learn from experiences both good and bad. I will learn and grow from this, and be a better person as a result.
Serena and Stacey make statements
Serena's statement after controversial US Open semifinal match:
“Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don't agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly. I would like to thank my fans and supporters for understanding that I am human and I look forward to continuing the journey, both professionally and personally, with you all as I move forward and grow from this experience.”
Stacey Allaster (Chairman and CEO, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour):
Serena Williams’ conduct last night was inappropriate and unprofessional. No matter what the circumstances, no player should be allowed to engage in such behavior without suffering consequences. I have spoken with the USTA about this matter and I agree with the action they have taken.
Serena is a great player who has done so much for our sport and I am certain she will continue to be a role model to millions of young women who want to play the game and excel as Serena has done. As a role model, it's important for a leader like Serena to step forward and recognize her behavior last night was unacceptable, and I believe that her statement earlier today is an acknowledgement of her responsibility to her fans.
Serena is a great player who has done so much for our sport and I am certain she will continue to be a role model to millions of young women who want to play the game and excel as Serena has done. As a role model, it's important for a leader like Serena to step forward and recognize her behavior last night was unacceptable, and I believe that her statement earlier today is an acknowledgement of her responsibility to her fans.
September 13, 2009
US Open Doubles: CHAMPIONSHIP (Monday)
FINAL
Venus/Serena (USA)[4] vs Cara Black (ZIM) / Liezel Huber (USA)[1]
1st Match of the Day at Arthur Ashe Stadium
1:00Pm
1:00Pm
Serena fined $10,500; Investigation underway
Serena Williams will be fined $10,500 for behavior deemed "unsportsmanlike conduct," and also for racket abuse after her obscenity-filled and aggressive reaction to a critical foot fault called during her 6-4, 7-5 U.S. Open semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters on Saturday night. There will also be further investigation of the incident according to a statement released by the U.S. Open, "The Grand Slam rule book also allows for an investigation to be conducted by the Grand Slam Committee Administrator to determine if the behavior of Ms. Williams warrants consideration as a Major Offence for which additional penalties can be imposed. This investigation has now begun." Williams earned $350,000 for her singles semifinal finish. After an unidentified lineswoman called a foot fault on a second serve which gave Williams a double fault and put her a point away from the loss, Williams approached the lineswoman, shook a tennis ball in the direction of the woman's face and threatened to shove the ball down the women's throat.Because Williams had already received a warning after breaking her racket at the end of the first set, her actions in confronting the lineswoman resulted in another code violation and a penalty point. That point was match point and gave Clijsters the win.
Through a public relations agency, Williams said Sunday, "Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure I can see that while I don't agree with the unfair line call in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly." Serena and her sister Venus will play the women's doubles final today, and tennis analyst Mary Carillo had an emphatic opinion on whether or not that match should be played. "If they let [Serena] play doubles, that's really a joke," Carillo said Sunday. "She should be out. How can you let her play? That woman was threatened and humiliated." Pam Shriver, who is also working for ESPN, suggested that Williams needs to make an apology soon. "If you're a great champion, as Serena is, and if you want to be a champion, like Serena, who opens schools in Africa and who wants to leave a legacy, then you need to make full amends and an appropriate apology or else you've cheapened your accomplishments." 
Shriver also thought that one outcome of the incident might be a system where foot fault calls could be challenged and electronically reviewed.The present system of electronic line calls where players are allowed up to three challenges a set of a chair umpire or linesperson's call, is credited in part because of a controversial chair over rule that cost Williams a crucial point during a U.S. Open match against Jennifer Capriati."I think, after this, officials will find the need to address reviewing of foot faults," Shriver said. "I could see where, just like after the Serena-Capriati match . . . ushered in the age of electronic line calls, this might usher in the age of the challenge of foot fault calls."Serena loses her cool and US Open Semi
Stepping Over The Line: Serena Implodes In Stunning Loss
By Richard Pagliaro of Tennisweek.com
A long, rainy day's journey into night came to a bizarre and controversial conclusion as Serena Williams stepped over the line — and talked her way out of the US Open semifinal in a stormy, stunning sequence of self-destruction from one of the best pressure players in the sport. In a shocking turn of events, the defending US Open champion was hit with a controversial — and questionable — foot fault call serving a second serve at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set. The call gave Kim Clijsters a match point and enraged Williams. Approaching the lineswoman who made the call, a seething Serena screamed profanity at her while while gesturing with her Wilson racquet. Williams paused, then turned and pointed at the lineswoman while again shouting at her. 
The lineswoman, who the USTA has not yet identified, reported Williams' words to chair umpire Louise Engzell, who conferred with tournament referee Brian Earley before hitting Williams with an unsportsmanlike conduct point penalty. That point penalty, coming on match point, ended the match giving Clijsters a 6-4, 7-5 victory and leaving many fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium sitting in stunned silence and Clijsters herself staring straight ahead in disbelief as if she did not want the match to end on that sour note. "It's unfortunate that a match I was playing so well had to end that way," said Clijsters. "At this point I'm still a little confused about what happened out there just because I was so focused. Just trying to win that last point for me. So then things ended up ending a little bit different than I expected." 
The second-seeded Williams declined to clarify exactly what she said to incur the point penalty (she appeared to use the F-word) and offered no excuse or apology in the post-match press conference. Williams, who was so calm in discussing the match afterward it was as if she had dissasociated herself from her actions, conceded she may have committed the foot fault. "I'm pretty sure I did," Williams said. "If she called a foot fault then she must have seen a foot fault. I mean, she was doing her job. I'm not going to knock her for not doing her job." It was the second time Williams was hit with a foot fault in the match and though it's absolutely mind-boggling a linesperson would call a foot fault at that critical stage of the match — particularly when replay offered inconclusive evidence on whether Williams' left, lead foot actually touched the baseline — the 11-time Grand Slam champion's angry outburst was so severe, Williams herself appeared to immediately realize she had talked herself right out of the Open. 
"I didn't threaten. I don't remember anymore, to be honest. I was in the moment," Williams said when asked exactly what she said. An on-court microphone picked up Williams saying to the lineswoman "I didn't say I would kill you! Are you serious?" "I think she said I would kill you and I was like 'What?' I was like 'What a minute,' " Williams said. "She was like 'No, I didn't say that.' She said something else. I said 'Oh, okay. I get it.' And I was totally fine because at that point I realized I got a point penalty and it was match point. What can I do? I'm not going to complain. It was what it was." The victory vaults Clijsters into Sunday's 9 p.m. US Open final against ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3, 6-3, in the other semifinal played before a sparse crowd of less than 500 people in Louis Armstrong Stadium. 
It has been a remarkable U.S. Open run for Clijsters, who took a 27-month sabbatical from the sport to get married and give birth to a daughter, Jada Ellie Lynch. Only six players have beaten both Williams sisters at the same tournament and tonight Clijsters, who outdueled Venus Williams, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 in the fourth round, became the only woman to beat both sisters in a tournament twice. "I never really expected to be beating Venus and beating Serena," Clijsters said. In a highly-anticipated clash of US Open champions, Williams had owned Clijsters in winning seven of their eight matches. But Clijsters, whose lone win over Williams came seven years ago, burst out of the blocks striking the ball with complete conviction. The depth of her drives often pushed Williams behind the baseline and forced her to hit off her back foot. 
Seemingly surprised by the depth and pace of Clijsters shots and seeing even some of her best shots come back with interest, Williams pulled the trigger prematurely at times in the first set and impatience cost her. Williams made successive backhand errors to drop serve and fall behind 2-4. The backhand is typically Williams' most reliable groundstroke, that the backhand betrayed her in the opening set as she committed 11 backhand errors compared to one for Clijsters. Father Richard Williams, sitting in the fourth row, held both palms out in a "calm down" gesture directed at his daughter. Williams relaxed her arm and ripped a series of returns to earn triple break point in the seventh game. Clijsters staved off three break points but on the fourth, Williams race up to a net cord shot and reifled a forehand winner down the line to break back for 3-4. A 115 mph serve down the middle followed by a forehand winner evened the set at 4-all. 
Clijsters responded with a love hold for 5-4 and when Williams won the opening two points of the 10th game she seemed on course to level the set. But she tightened and Clijsters connected on a forehand winner for 30-all before Williams committed consecutive forehand errors to drop the set. Williams, who cursed at herself in frustration in the opening set, was hit with a code violation warning after banging her racquet to the court when she blew a 30-0 lead and dropped serve to end the opening set. The second-seeded American had not surrendered a set through her first five matches, but was out played by Clijsters, who consistently attacked the Williams second serve, winning 21 of 31 points played on her second serve. 
Realizing that first-set code violation set made the point penalty mandatory after her outburst at the end of the second set, Williams put her racquet down, walked around the net post and shook hands with Clijsters before leaving the court without a word. "The timing is unfortunate, you know," Clijsters said. "To get a point penalty at the time, it's unfortunate. But there are rules and like I said, it's just unfortunate that it has to happen on match point." It was a sad, stormy and ugly ending for Williams, who was outplayed in the opening set, but clawed her way back into the match in the latter stages of the second set. "It was not an immediate default. It was a point penalty given on match point," Earley said. "She had an earlier warning for racquet abuse. She was called for a foot fault. A point later she said something to the line umpire and it was reported to the chair and that resulted in a point penalty and it just so happened that was match point. It was a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct." 
A calm and composed Williams met with the media about 15 minutes after the match concluded, conceding Clijsters played a high-quality match. "I think Kim played a wonderful match and I think I played good too," Williams said. "I think I could have played better and I actually feel like I can go home and I can actually do better, which I'm really excited about. There's someone out there that makes me want to go home and makes me want to work out and makes me want to run and do better. I can't wait to do that. I think that when I was down, I'm not the beggar like 'Please, please let me have another chance.' Because it was the rules and I play by the rules. If I get hit, I say I got hit, you know. I play by the rules. That's what it was."September 12, 2009
September 11, 2009
US Open: Semifinal (Saturday)
Semifinal
[2] Serena Williams (USA) vs Kim Clijsters (BEL)
Serena leads Head-to-Head 7-1
Arthur Ashe Stadium @ 8:00pm
Friday US Open Women's Semis CANCELLED
September 10, 2009
US Open: Semifinal (Friday)
Semifinal
[2] Serena Williams (USA) vs Kim Clijsters (BEL)
Serena leads Head-to-Head 7-1
Arthur Ashe Stadium @ 12:30pm
Williams Sisters advance to Doubles Final
Venus and Serena Williams advanced to the US Open women’s doubles finals by defeating Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2 in a match that lasted 2 hours and 31 minutes. The Williamses, seeded No. 4, will play the winner of the match between top-seeded Cara Black and Liezel Huber and No. 3 Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs. Black and Huber are the defending champions. Wind played a factor throughout, but especially in the third set. After just three breaks of serve in the first two sets, there were six in the third versus just two holds, both by Venus. “It was probably the most windy conditions I’ve ever played in,” Serena said. “It was tough, but everyone had to play in the same conditions.”
The Williamses will be attempting to win their third grand slam doubles championship of the year, having already captured titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. They won the US Open in 1999, but haven’t played together in this event since 2001. In total, the sisters have won a staggering nine of the past 16 grand slams they’ve played as a doubles team.
September 9, 2009
US Open (Doubles): Semifinal (Thursday)
Semifinal
Venus/Serena (USA)[4] vs A. Kleybanova / E. Makarova (RUS)[13]
1st Match of the Day at Arthur Ashe Stadium
Venus/Serena (USA)[4] vs A. Kleybanova / E. Makarova (RUS)[13]
1st Match of the Day at Arthur Ashe Stadium
11:00am
Williams Sisters win doubles quarterfinal match
September 8, 2009
US Open (Doubles): Quarterfinal (Wednesday)
Quarterfinal
Venus/Serena (USA)[4] vs Zi Yan (CHN)[11] / Jie Zheng (CHN)[11]
3rd Match of the Day / Louis Armstrong Stadium
Serena powers past Pennetta to advance to Semi
Champion Serena Williams won a war of heavy groundstroke rallies to beat battling Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday and set up a semi-finals clash against former winner Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open. Second-seeded Williams overpowered the 10th seed to break serve at love in the 10th game for the first set, and then earned the only other break of the hard-fought match in the sixth game of the second set to clinch victory. Williams was dominant in her service games, sending seven aces past Flavia and knocking in 86 percent of her first deliveries. The Italian, who had saved six match points before advancing past Vera Zvonareva in the previous round, served up five double faults.
"She never gives up, is such a great player and never gave up tonight," the American, who has yet to lose a set in the tournament, said after the 75-minute victory. Williams has won three of the past four major championships. She is seeking her fourth U.S. Open title and 12th Grand Slam overall.
Serena can become #1 by winning US Open
NEW YORK (AP)—It turns out Serena Williams can move up to No. 1 in the WTA rankings, as long as she wins the U.S. Open. She just would have to wait until a week after the tournament ends. There has been much debate and discussion in recent months about why Williams is No. 2, and Dinara Safina is No. 1. The American has won three of the past four Grand Slam tournaments to raise her career total to 11, while the Russian is still seeking her first major title.
After Safina was upset in the third round at the U.S. Open, she was assured of retaining the top spot when the new rankings are issued Sept. 14, the day after the U.S. Open concludes—no matter how Williams fares the rest of the way. Williams plays in the quarterfinals Tuesday night. But the WTA said Monday that because of the rankings’ rolling, 52-week system, the points Williams would defend by winning the year’s last major tournament would be enough to push her past Safina in the Sept. 21 rankings.
September 7, 2009
US Open: Quarterfinal (Tuesday)
Quarterfinal
[2] Serena Williams (USA) vs [10] Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
Serena leads Head-to-Head 1-0
Arthur Ashe Stadium @ 7:00pm
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