FadeTheButcher
09-10-2004, 10:54 AM
http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~11080~2389743,00.html
NEW YORK -- She used the word conspiracy, as if someone is out to get the Williams family. "At first I thought it was another Wimbledon conspiracy," Serena Williams said in discussing one of the most flagrantly awful calls in the history of tennis,."
Two months ago, Venus Williams was jobbed by a Wimbledon umpire who incurred brain lock, called a fault and still awarded a point to Karolina Sprem in a tiebreaker. Two nights ago, sister Serena hit a ball that landed on court but on an overrule was declared out by a U.S. Open umpire, and Jennifer Capriati won the point.
A rainstorm hit the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday. A storm of protest hit the U.S. Tennis Association. Somebody, finally was paying attention to tennis. Or to the inequity of tennis.
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Venus and Serena were raised to be suspicious of the establishment. "Venus is out there playing for the African-American race," Zina Garrison, another black player, said once. "It's an all-white sport. You feel it, are made to feel it, like you don't belong. So you protect yourself."
Venus and Serena remain in a protective mode, always a bit paranoid. There are reasons.
You remember when Serena and Venus kept meeting in those Grand Slam finals, and people, other players, tennis administrators, said it was hurting the game. Would they have said it if the siblings were white?
The call umpire Mariana Alves made Tuesday night hurt the game, and it also hurt Serena. But even Serena conceded that wasn't
why she was beaten by Capriati 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
When you're playing well, you overcome the little things, the bad calls, the bad bounces. Serena is still recovering from knee surgery and knows she's not playing as well as she has.
And yet, some of the joy we take from sport is that, unlike life in general, sport is supposed to be fair. There are rules. There are regulations.
Three strikes you're out. When a football breaks the plane it's a touchdown. A ball hit inside the line in tennis is good.
Unless the official blows it. Alves, inexplicably, blew it. And we witnessed that blown call on replays.
"It was such a horrendous call," said John McEnroe, doing TV commentary for the USA Network, "if I was closer to the court, I would have run onto the court."
What the USTA did was run Ms. Alves off the court.
She won't officiate again. "Everybody thought it was in the best interests she not be scheduled for any future matches this year," said Jim Curley, the USTA tournament director.
Then the USTA apologized to Serena. Again.
"I did personally talk with her a couple of hours ago by telephone," Curley said Wednesday afternoon. "She was very appreciative. I told her how much she means to this tournament, how much she means to tennis, and told her how much we appreciate how classy she handled the questions from the media.
"We're disappointed to lose a player like Serena. These aren't the circumstances we'd like to have Serena bow out of the U.S. Open."
But did the one rotten call take her out of the Open? Or did Capriati?
Jennifer gets the short end of the stick in this one, even though she also gets to advance to one of the semis against Elena Dementieva. Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet in the other semi.
Some suggested Capriati should have helped on the call, yelled to Alves the ball indeed was in, should have been sportsman in the true meaning of the word. Ai Sugiyama, beaten by Capriati in a previous match, disagreed.
"No! Why?" asked Sugiyama. "It's not a junior tournament. The linesmen have to call the lines."
Which, in this era of 150 mph serves, is becoming more difficult every moment. The next step is the obvious step, a form of instant replay.
"We're heading in that direction," said Arlen Kantarian, executive director of the USTA. "What happened with Serena is unfortunate, but it's part of umpiring, the human factor. We're testing something called Auto-Ref. It uses eight cameras, more than the Hawkeye, used by television. But we have to be convinced it's 100 percent accurate." Whatever percentage, it will be more accurate than Mariana Alves.
NEW YORK -- She used the word conspiracy, as if someone is out to get the Williams family. "At first I thought it was another Wimbledon conspiracy," Serena Williams said in discussing one of the most flagrantly awful calls in the history of tennis,."
Two months ago, Venus Williams was jobbed by a Wimbledon umpire who incurred brain lock, called a fault and still awarded a point to Karolina Sprem in a tiebreaker. Two nights ago, sister Serena hit a ball that landed on court but on an overrule was declared out by a U.S. Open umpire, and Jennifer Capriati won the point.
A rainstorm hit the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday. A storm of protest hit the U.S. Tennis Association. Somebody, finally was paying attention to tennis. Or to the inequity of tennis.
GetAd(20,'box', 300, 250,'');
Venus and Serena were raised to be suspicious of the establishment. "Venus is out there playing for the African-American race," Zina Garrison, another black player, said once. "It's an all-white sport. You feel it, are made to feel it, like you don't belong. So you protect yourself."
Venus and Serena remain in a protective mode, always a bit paranoid. There are reasons.
You remember when Serena and Venus kept meeting in those Grand Slam finals, and people, other players, tennis administrators, said it was hurting the game. Would they have said it if the siblings were white?
The call umpire Mariana Alves made Tuesday night hurt the game, and it also hurt Serena. But even Serena conceded that wasn't
why she was beaten by Capriati 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
When you're playing well, you overcome the little things, the bad calls, the bad bounces. Serena is still recovering from knee surgery and knows she's not playing as well as she has.
And yet, some of the joy we take from sport is that, unlike life in general, sport is supposed to be fair. There are rules. There are regulations.
Three strikes you're out. When a football breaks the plane it's a touchdown. A ball hit inside the line in tennis is good.
Unless the official blows it. Alves, inexplicably, blew it. And we witnessed that blown call on replays.
"It was such a horrendous call," said John McEnroe, doing TV commentary for the USA Network, "if I was closer to the court, I would have run onto the court."
What the USTA did was run Ms. Alves off the court.
She won't officiate again. "Everybody thought it was in the best interests she not be scheduled for any future matches this year," said Jim Curley, the USTA tournament director.
Then the USTA apologized to Serena. Again.
"I did personally talk with her a couple of hours ago by telephone," Curley said Wednesday afternoon. "She was very appreciative. I told her how much she means to this tournament, how much she means to tennis, and told her how much we appreciate how classy she handled the questions from the media.
"We're disappointed to lose a player like Serena. These aren't the circumstances we'd like to have Serena bow out of the U.S. Open."
But did the one rotten call take her out of the Open? Or did Capriati?
Jennifer gets the short end of the stick in this one, even though she also gets to advance to one of the semis against Elena Dementieva. Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet in the other semi.
Some suggested Capriati should have helped on the call, yelled to Alves the ball indeed was in, should have been sportsman in the true meaning of the word. Ai Sugiyama, beaten by Capriati in a previous match, disagreed.
"No! Why?" asked Sugiyama. "It's not a junior tournament. The linesmen have to call the lines."
Which, in this era of 150 mph serves, is becoming more difficult every moment. The next step is the obvious step, a form of instant replay.
"We're heading in that direction," said Arlen Kantarian, executive director of the USTA. "What happened with Serena is unfortunate, but it's part of umpiring, the human factor. We're testing something called Auto-Ref. It uses eight cameras, more than the Hawkeye, used by television. But we have to be convinced it's 100 percent accurate." Whatever percentage, it will be more accurate than Mariana Alves.