Serena Williams, The New John McEnroe

Like John McEnroe before her, tennis star Serena Williams, was called for a foot fault late in her U.S. Open semifinal match against eventual champion Kim Clijsters Saturday and responded with a profane tirade directed at the line judge who made the call.

Williams stormed over to the judge and reportedly said something along the lines of: “I swear to God, I’m going to take this f#cking ball and shove it down your f#cking throat.”

The resulting point penalty (assessed because of a previous code-violation warning) cost Ms. Williams the match.

Ms. Williams, who so far has been fined $10,500 for her behavior during the match, issued a statement Sunday that said in part,

“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’m just glad my children, who are big fans of both Serena Williams and her sister Venus, weren’t watching the match. None of these incidents displayed the kind of job-related passion I’d like them to emulate.

What others said:

• Dlisted says, “If I was the judge, I’d immediately start playing with my nipples while wiggling my tongue at Serena, because in my circle that is a pick-up line! Don’t threaten me with a good time, Serena!”

source: Serena Williams’s Meltdown: Losing Your Composure on the Job [wall street journal]

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