No Safety Net as Tennis Weighs Potential Serena Punishment

The stakes go way up now.

Tennis' governing bodies have no way out of a racial mess over Serena Williams.

No. 1 Dinara Safina, a point of controversy over why she has that ranking in the first place, lost again Monday. And now, Williams has to win just one more match, Tuesday in China against a nobody, to finally regain her spot as No. 1 in the world.

Meanwhile, the International Tennis Federation has given her two weeks to defend herself, to explain her f-bomb-laced, racquet-waving threats at a tiny line judge who had the nerve to make a correct foot fault call in a crucial moment at the U.S. Open semifinal last month.

Check your spines, ITF board members, because if you suspend Williams for the next major, as precedent calls, then you will almost surely be taking away Williams' No. 1 ranking.

White-black, tennis establishment-Williams sisters.

The battle lines are already drawn. Every decision, every move with Serena and Venus Williams and tennis always involves some element of race. Even the question of why Serena hadn't already been No. 1.

So for the establishment to take away that ranking in a boardroom will only set off an explosion.

The debate over Williams' tantrum has lined up, in no small part, along racial lines. Her ranking has, too, to a lesser extent. The rivalry between Serena and Maria Sharapova, the human Barbie Doll, has too.

The truth is, though, a lot of people like to pretend otherwise and dream of the ideal, the racial undercurrent is permanent with the Williams sisters and tennis.

Some people think that Serena's behavior at the Open was outrageous, never-before-seen. Others feel they saw John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors behave poorly for years and be celebrated for it, not treated the way she has.

Some feel Serena gets preferential treatment. Some feel the sisters from Compton are still fighting the same old battles in a traditional country club sport.

The ITF has a few weeks to decide. If it does not suspend Serena Williams or add to her puny $10,000 on-court fine, then that will be seen as an outrage.

That is like cab fare to someone making $15 million a year. Almost any amount of money won't touch her, as she made more than $500,000 as runner-up at the Open alone.

And a suspension from non-majors will feel like a hall pass to her. She shows such little respect for the tour already, not trying at, and clearly not wanting to be at, non-majors.

The only way to make her feel it is to suspend her from the Australian Open. But how will that look? Some people feel she was the victim in all of this, and has been punished and humiliated.

Others might point out that Jeff Tarango, after calling a chair umpire corrupt and leaving the court at Wimbledon, was suspended from two majors.

This Williams sisters (and their fans)-tennis establishment fight is coming to a head right here, now.

Meanwhile, women's tennis has turned into a Serena reality show.

Have you heard these new words from her?

"I'm not afraid of her. I mean, come on, she's like five-foot-nothing. Look at these."

And she flexes her biceps and squeezes them.

New footage of her tantrum? No, this is what she says in the new Tampax ad, which pits Williams against Mother Nature.



We've seen discussions about whether this ad campaign will be in bad taste, so close to her tantrum. Having seen the ad now, it's clear that this is more than bad taste.

It's in-your-face. It's a nose-thumbing at the establishment, a statement that her tantrum was acceptable to her.

Yes, it was filmed before the Open, but Proctor & Gamble, and Williams, didn't seem too concerned about stopping it now.

That said, for some reason, I find the ad to be funny, especially when Mother Nature is trying to deliver the red box, "Aunt Flow,'' to Williams, and screaming out as Serena pelts her with tennis balls.

Bad taste can still make good humor. Bad behavior can turn into good publicity: Serena Willams is on the cover of the upcoming ESPN The Magazine Body issue.

But back to the ITF's dilemna, there are other things to consider. The electronic replay system was put into place a few years ago because Serena was clearly being ripped off against Jennifer Capriati.

So Williams has reason to be suspicious of line judges. In this case, the foot fault was obvious.

For all the videos of McEnroe and Connors that 20 Williams fans have sent me, I have yet to see one with threats of physical violence.

And a big thing people keep missing is that at the French Open, Serena Williams felt an opponent had cheated her, and made a threat there, too:

"I'm going to get you in the locker room for that. You don't know me."

Now, Bill Babcock of the ITF, is reportedly calling this a major offense investigation.

If it suspends her from the Australian Open, which she won in January, then Serena Williams will replace champion points on the rankings computer with a big zero. It will be tough to hold the No. 1 spot.

So tennis' establishment, in this racial environment, is all but deciding whether to take away her No. 1 ranking.

Having made a pattern of threats, she needs some sort of punishment with real teeth. But too many people are afraid of her. She is, after all, tennis' meal ticket.

I say they won't have the nerve.

"Little Serena, ah, she can't scare me," Mother Nature says in her squeaky voice in the commercial. "Did she show you her muscles? Mmm-hmm. That's what she always does."

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com