Serena Williams Loses Match for Unprofessional Conduct

Last night while playing in the 2009 U.S. Open, Serena Williams screamed at a lineswoman, "I swear to God, I'll f --- take this ball and shove it down your f -- - throat." Williams was serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set. She faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making the score 15-40, putting Clijsters just one point away from victory. This is something you never see at any stage of a match, but during the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament, it was more than Williams knew how to handle professionally.

This was the second code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct on Saturday night for tennis super star Williams. The first violation had been a warning after Williams lost the first set to Clijsters and slammed her racket against the blue court and whacked it into the net.

The whole match was stunning. Clijster, 26, performed brilliantly against Williams. She was making a comeback after a short retirement of two years and recently had a baby. Clijster, from Belgium, had only beaten Williams once in eight prior games. Clijsters broke Williams incredible serve four times while dominating the rallies with spectacular ground-strokes. The score was 6-4, 7-5, Clijster the surprise winner, now reaching the U.S. Open finals.

As the very upset Williams walked over to the lineswoman, she angrily shook her racket and let out profane comments. The lineswoman, whose name has been withheld, walked over to the chair umpire, Louise Engzell, to report the violation. The tournament referee, Brian Earley, came onto the court to discuss the firey situation. Williams denied she had threatened the lineswoman. Earley informed Williams that she would be assessed a point penalty. Williams got no slack for a call that replays showed the lineswoman was clearly wrong at a very critical time in the game, match-point.

After the match, Williams declined to disclose what she said to the lineswoman inside the interview room. Williams did say, "I don't think that's necessary. I'm trying to move on. I'm clearly not happy. Obviously I wanted to fight. I always fight when I'm down." Williams was consoled in the locker room after the unfortunate incident by another tennis super star, sister Venus.

Clijsters went on to say, "I mean, the timing is unfortunate, you know. To get a point penalty at the time, it's unfortunate. But there are rules, and you know, like I said, it's just unfortunate that it has to happen on a match point."

Anger management classes may be in store for the tennis queen.