Leitch: Lay Off Serena

Will Leitch reminds us about what’s being left out of the debate about Serena’s implosion: calling a foot fault, especially at that point in the match, was bush league. And the only thing more over the top than Serena’s reaction to a bad call has been the reaction to her histrionics. From Leitch:

Continued replays have shown that Williams’s foot was not over the line on the serve, which caused a double fault, and the outburst. [...] Like the phantom tag in baseball, that’s not a call you ever make on a second serve — obviously, Williams had no real advantage with her foot near the line on a serve she’s just trying to get in play — and that’s definitely a call you don’t make when someone’s serving for their life in the semifinals of the U.S. Open.Beyond the issue of whether that call should ever be made in a professional match - let alone the semifinal of a Slam - Leitch also points out that Serena didn’t really threaten to kill the line judge...at least not exactly:

Contrary to the headlines, Serena did not tell the line judge she would kill her. [...] She said a few “fucking”s and pointed a few times with her racket. Has no one ever seen Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe before? Serena, in the heat of a massively important match, lost her cool for a second, and said some things she surely regrets. But for crying out loud, what did she do that was so horrible? John McEnroe once sacrificed a goat at center court of Wimbledon after a bad call. (Note: This anecdote might be made up, but you get the point.) We’re worried about Serena screaming after a wretched call? They’re talking about suspending her? When did we become such wimps?Wrapping it up, Leitch points out that the line judge committed the cardinal sin for any referee - don’t make yourself the story:

The line judge put herself at the middle of the action and let her own inability to handle an angry player decide who won the semifinal at the U.S. Open. We cannot fathom why she’s not taking more heat. Because if we were Serena Williams ... we would have wanted to shove that ball down her throat, too.