Serena's Stature Puts Tennis in Bind

I'm glad someone has mentioned the crass commercialism that ruined this years Open for regular fans. Organizing the schedule around prime time left us watch the best tennis in the wee hours and was grossly unfair to the players. It gets worse each year.
As for Williams, I for one wouldn't miss her from the Australian Open and her absence wouldn't affect my viewing habits.

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Her true colors came out. you never change. if she was white she all ready be ban from playing.

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ruined THIS year's tournament? what about the last 15?

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You guys are hater. And if she was white she would not be ban. John and Jimmy never got ban so get over it! She not going anywhere until she's ready. Right now Serena/Venus makes the rating and with rating comes money, USTA, CBS, and ESPN knows this. You don't have them you don't have the ratings.

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What is the big deal? She got upset and blew up...it happens. Ok, she said she was going to shove a ball down someone's throat, that was said out of passion and wanting to win really badly. She didn't actually attack anyone. Look at the other sports where they don't tell you they are going to whip your ass, they just do it..like in hockey, football, baseball and basketball when they end up fighting for some reason or another...She never hit anyone the way they do when they get upset in these other sports...Give it a rest..

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I think it's a real shame that the gentle sport of tennis thinks it has to kow-tow to the media, when it clearly doesn't. I agree with Mary, who said it wouldn't change her viewing habits at all, if Serena were banned from the Aussie Open... It's awfully presumptuous to think that viewership will go down if Serena's not in it --- when she's been injured before and hasn't played before, we still all watched. When she would go out early, we didn't stop watching the rest of the Slam...

I think Tennis needs to get some balls (pun intended), and do what's right. And what's right is to ban her for 1 year, effective immediately, 2010 Slams and all, from 9/18/09--9/18/10. It would not be right to ban her permanently, but to be out for 1 year would be right. To fine her a mere $250k as Greg Couch suggests is chump change to someone with more than $25-million in earnings.

And I am sick to death of this being a racial issue. It's not racist to give out consequences! She WAS already losing to Kim anyway. She DID foot-fault. She DID threaten a tiny minority judge half Serena's size, beyond anything I have ever seen from any player in the Open Era. And if Tennis doesn't hold players accountable in a way that matters (meaning: punishment), then it says to every other ATP & WTA player out there "Go ahead, do whatever you want, it doesn't matter." The PR-managed apology and the $10,500 is not punishment and does not take care of the cancer this type of behavior has become... And I would say this about ANYONE who did what she did... This is NOT about race. I know she is a great talent, but should that give her special rights? NO!! Any race, any gender, play fair, and if not, get punished in a way that matters, and television be damned.

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To say that race has nothing to with this whole ordeal is ignorance. Now I don't think its the major issue, but its definitely a part of the problem. Even a small part at least. The main problem I see is the huge double standard involved here. Serena is the most talented female tennis player in history and along with her sister have changed the game. She has dealt with match altering calls before that went against her and has usually kept things in check. However she slipped and people went crazy with talks of her behavior "the worst in history". While absolutely terrible it is not even close to things that have happened in tennis or in sports in general. Period. And yet her legacy to non-fans is marred forever because of a human mistake and something every athlete has dealt with or thought of before. Unluckily for her she is a woman and plays a sport in which tradition is huge; also the tennis establishment is not so forgiving of her and her sister's mistakes. Had she not been persecuted tirelessly for the past week, Roger Federer would not have been fined for his words with the chair umpire as people have caught on to the double standard and put pressure in the USTA and the tennis establishment in general to enforce the rules on everyone. As it should always have been, to alleviate the tour of such circumstances and not given anyone room to argue--for better or worse, racism or not--that everyone is treated equally and the rules are to be enforced 24/7.

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serena realoly showed her true colors here. You can take the witch out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the witch. Neither of the williams have played at Indian Wells for years and the attendance has gone up every year. They are NOT bigger than the gane, the tour or anything else in the sport. Since she is so stupid all she cares about is the Majors, ban her from them for a year. That would hurt her more than anything else.

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If Bill Babcock doesn’t suspend her for at least the length Tarango was we should suspender her ourselves. BOYCOTT any Tournaments her highness condescends to play. Don’t by tickets! And turn off our TV sets.

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if Serena gets supended from Grands Slams for that i assure you we will organize a boycott of tennis and any of their sponsors. Test it USTA. Ask Glen Beck.

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Greg Couch, with his SERENA HATING SELF, and the rest of you people NEED TO GET A LIFE, or take care of the one you have. Where is the outrage over the YANKEES AND BLUEJAYS FIGHTING, which broke out a few days ago? You act like you'll die if SERENA ISN'T KICKED OUT OF TENNIS. All most of you ever did was cheer for the foreign players rather than the Williams sisters, whenever they played in the US. Please, those of you who allow your own kids to watch THE TRASH ON PRIME TIME TV,IN GAME VIDEOS,ON THE INTERNET EVERYDAY, you're the ones WHO NEED TO BE BANNED AS PARENTS. GET OVER IT! WHAT A BUNCH OF SELF-RIGHTEOUS, RACIST HYPOCRITES.

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America ha always been more tolerant of the behavior of white people than that of Blacks. Time after time, McEnroe smashed rackets and cursed out officials and no one suggested he be suspended for a year. The very next day at the US Open in the Men's Semi finals, Roger Federer questioned the Chair Umpire and told him, "don't tell me to be quiet!" The Chair official said something else and Federer said, " I don't give a shit what he said". CBS announcer, Mary Carillo, who crucified Serena Williams for her conduct found Federa's conduct amusing. Go figure!! What didyou think about Federer cursing out the Chair official, Greg Couch. Notice you didn't mention it!!

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