NEW YORK -- Serena Williams is a quitter. Yes, we saw the temper tantrum, saw her drop the f-bombs and tell the lines judge that she could take "this (bleeping) ball'' and stuff "it down your (bleeping) throat."
That's humiliating enough. But it's all a diversion from Williams' cowardice. She knew the rules, knew that she was going to be bounced from the match, getting a point-penalty on match point. She was absolutely going to lose anyway. So she chose that form of embarrassment over the other form that she was already suffering.
Williams has shot off her mouth for months about being the best player in the world, and here was Kim Clijsters, back from 2 1/2 years of maternity leave, out-toughing a woman who takes pride in her toughness, coming from Compton. Williams was being out-toughed in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.
A bully being beaten. That's what Williams was. And the problem was not the rain, not a bad call (it was a good call; I was sitting low and right along the line), not an over-reaction from her tirade.
Don't let Serena change the subject, which is this:
She is a fraud.
She was getting her butt handed to her, and this was her way of sitting on the stool, saying "No Mas," and refusing to come out for the last round.
We saw Roger Clemens do the same thing years ago. Remember?
"What did I say?" Williams said. "You didn't hear? Oh."Don't worry, Serena. It's going to come out. A kid cannot pick his nose on the school playground anymore without pictures of it showing up on YouTube.
"No, I didn't threaten," she said. "I didn't -- I don't remember anymore, to be honest. I was in the moment."
Oh please. Williams knows she made threats. And when tournament officials took the court and met with the chair umpire and the line judge, Williams walked up and said, "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious? Are you serious?"
The line judge nodded and said, "Yes."
Williams later said that she had misunderstood the claim, that the judge had not said that at all, and so Williams' response was about nothing.
Not true.
But here's even the bigger lie:
"Well you know, I'm just clearly not happy," Williams said. "But it was ... I don't know. Like, I mean, obviously I wanted to fight."
She was talking about fighting for the victory, not literally fighting.
"I always fight when I'm down and keep going. I planned on hitting a couple of aces, but I guess it didn't work out."
She had no intention of hitting aces. She was too afraid to try.
Two points from being tied in the game, four points from tying the set and taking it to the tiebreaker.
No, she wasn't going to come back, she knew it. And she couldn't take it.
Clijsters beat her into submission.
People are going to think something was missing from this win for Clijsters. But the truth is, it was one of the most impressive victories ever. It was so dominant that one of the greatest players of all time, couldn't bring herself to finish.
Listen, this tantrum was a disgrace. Poor sportsmanship and all. But we've seen Jimmy Connors call a line judge an "abortion," before. We've heard athletes drop f-bombs before. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite this bad, but tennis players are notorious for this garbage.
"All the people that, you know, kind of yell at lines people," she said. "I think it kind of comes sometimes. Players, athletes get frustrated. I don't know how many times I've seen that happen."
Yes, and this time it is only a diversion. Clijsters, traveling with her new baby, was too tough physically, too tough mentally for Serena Williams.
After 2 1/2 years away from the game, she has just walked back in the door to beat everyone.
Serena has bullied her way into humiliating Dinara Safina, who is ranked No. 1. Safina isn't the best player, but it turns out that Williams isn't, either.
Clijsters is the best player in the world. And how humiliating for Williams to have made such a fuss over her own greatness, and then have this happen to her.
She was down 6-4, 6-5, 15-40 when she chose to erupt.
And did you see the line judge? After Williams' second eruption, the line judge left her spot to say something to the chair umpire. When she came back, Williams was ready to charge over again, yelling more. The line judge, a tiny woman, didn't even sit down before turning and running back in fear to the chair umpire for cover.
Remember back at the French Open, when Williams accused another player of cheating her? She said that the woman had better not come to the net again.
It was Williams threatening that she would drill her with a shot.
"You guys heard that?" Williams said later. "Well, you know I am from Compton. So you know..."
I know that Serena is a quitter. On Saturday, U.S. Open officials released a statement saying absolutely nothing. It explained that Williams had smashed her racquet after the first set, drawing a warning, and when she "yelled something at the line umpire" she was assessed a point penalty.
In the interview room later, Williams' agent reminded her to smile and a few minutes later bullied the moderator into stopping the interviews. Williams had put on a happy face, pretended to be calm.
She said she had probably foot-faulted, but was upset because officials had only started calling it on her in the past two weeks.
No, Serena, the chair umpires and officials didn't throw you out of the match. You did it yourself.
On purpose.
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