Serena Williams & the Silencing of Women

[stopbush]

13. Back when I was playing competitive tennis, you were taught to mix things up

if a match wasn’t going your way. Slow things down or speed things up. Keep your passing shots close to your opponent to see if you can back them off the net, etc.

Since the dawn of McEnroe, it has become acceptable to mix things up by arguing with the umpire. You bring the game to a halt, put the spotlight on yourself, try to get the crowd on your side and against the ump (and by extension, your opponent), all the while your opponent stands there as a non participant, having their edge drained out of them. When the contest finally resumes, you are full of piss and vinegar, while your opponent stands there shellshocked, with any momentum they had built up ground into the dirt.

That’s pretty much what I saw from Serena on Saturday. The ump was having none of it. He followed the rules of the tournament and assessed penalties, penalties that Serena was well aware of. Let’s remember that this all started with a warning that was issued against Serena for her coach illegally coaching from the stands during the match, a violation he readily admitted to moments after the match ended.

Should the ump have ignored the violations to be “fair” to Serena? How would that have been fair to Osaka?