Serena Williams Accuses Martinez Sanchez Of Cheating At French Open

PARIS — Serena Williams was sure the ball went off her opponent's arm, a no-no in tennis. The opponent, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, insisted the ball went off her racket. Williams accused Martinez Sanchez of "cheating." Martinez Sanchez thought that was a "stupid" thing for Williams to say.

Then consider that the point in question helped Martinez Sanchez win the first set of their French Open match Saturday. Oh, and that Williams had a coughing fit during a third-set changeover. All in all, what eventually became a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory for Williams stands as the latest example of the athlete/actress' penchant for theatrics.

"I'm, like, drama. And I don't want to be drama," a hoarse Williams said, straining to get the words out. "I'm like one of those girls on a reality show that has all the drama, and everyone in the house hates them because no matter what they do, like, drama follows them. I don't want to be that girl."

Perhaps. But the 2002 French Open champion, who dabbles in acting, sure seems to find herself in the middle of unique on-court situations.

Even Williams made passing reference Saturday to two episodes by naming the opponents, if not mentioning the details: a 2003 French Open semifinal loss marked by Justine Henin's gamesmanship and Williams' postmatch tears, and a 2004 U.S. Open quarterfinal loss to Jennifer Capriati that contained enough questionable officiating to prompt the introduction of replay reviews in the sport.

Here's what happened in Saturday's third-round match:

At 2-2 in the first set, Williams double-faulted to give a break point to Martinez Sanchez, a Spaniard who is ranked 43rd and never has reached the fourth round at a major. On the next point, Martinez Sanchez raced to the net behind a drop shot that brought Williams forward, too. Williams ran up and smacked a backhand right at Martinez Sanchez.

In what seemed to be an effort to protect herself, as much as to try to hit a volley, the left-handed Martinez Sanchez raised her racket, quick as could be. The ball ricocheted back _ off her racket? off her arm? off both? _ and past Williams. The point was awarded to Martinez Sanchez, giving her the game.

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NBC, which televised the match, showed The Associated Press replays in which the ball appears to glance first off Martinez Sanchez's right forearm, then off her racket, before going over the net. Tennis rules say if a ball touches a player, the point is lost.

As the women headed to the ensuing changeover, Williams tried to say something to Martinez Sanchez, who kept walking. Then Williams spoke to the chair umpire, Emmanuel Joseph, saying, "I felt so bad. I didn't mean to hit her."

Repeatedly pointing to her own forearm, Williams told Joseph, "I don't know why you gave her the game. That's totally not cool."

"She better not come to the net again," Williams said.

At her postmatch news conference, Williams was asked whether she thought the ball touched Martinez Sanchez.

"I didn't 'think' the ball touched her _ the ball did touch her, 100 percent, on her arm. The rules of tennis is when the ball hits your body, then it's out of play. You lose a point automatically," Williams said. "So the ball hit her body, and therefore, she should have lost the point _ instead of cheating."

Could Martinez Sanchez have been unsure whether the ball made contact with her arm?

"I hit that ball rather hard," Williams said. "She knew that ball hit her."

A moment later, rolling her eyes, Williams added: "It was like, 'No way.' I would never do that. I've never done that. I've never sunk low."

When Williams' comments were relayed, Martinez Sanchez said: "I don't like to comment about this. It's a stupid comment."

Asked in both English and Spanish whether the ball hit her, she repeatedly said it went off her racket.

As for Williams' health, the 10-time Grand Slam singles champion said she's been fighting a cold.

"I thought," Williams said, "I was going to cough up a lung or something."

Talk about drama.

Comments

[TLaw]

Gosh she's kinda thick there.....

[ImaVeteran]

Instead of cheating once in a while, I would rather the number one topic of women"s tennis be the rather vulgar display of the grunting and squealing while hitting a ground stroke, serve, or backstroke. (I think women even squeal while changing sides).

I have lost my taste for women's tennis because of this cr@p. If I do watch I must turn the volume down. Even then I can watch for a few minutes only, because I know they're still making noise.

I know, I know, men make noise too. It's just not as sickening as hearing a women grunt while hitting the ball.

Anyway, isn't tennis supposed to be a game of manners?

[whatevertoo]

Martinez was asked by the umpire at the time of incident if the ball hit her once Serena brought it to his attention, Martinez lied and said it did not. Therefore it is not a matter of an athlete going against a judge or about a penalty against themselves, it was a matter of telling the truth wihen asked if the ball hit her by the umpire. She's a liar and a cheat. She is still denying it but the whole world knows better.

[whatevertoo]

It is cheating. She knew the ball hit her and for her not to say anything and get a point that she did not earn is cheating, outright cheating. This incident cannot be compared to other sports because their is no other sport that clearly states in the rules that if the ball hits a players body that the ball is out of play and they automatically lose a point. This is a very important rule in the sport of Tennis and is very significant and important to the scoring of points because of how the game is played. There are not 5, 9, or 11 players on the tennis court. The sport is played hitting the ball back an forth with a tennis racket, not across a baseball diamond, or 100 yards down field or bounced up and down a basketball court. I'm glad Serena called her exactly what she is a cheater. Martinez should have done the right thing and corrected it, especially knowing that it is televised, recorded and replay is inevitable. It certainly says alot about Martinez's character, morals, and sportsmanship, she's a cheater and will do anything to win.

[k6007]

american tennis player serena williams is playing a BLOND russian as I type. I know who the sanchez supporters on this thread will be pulling for. I'd wager they're of the 'Country First', "usa, usa, usa.." sect.

[Dr Manhattan]

Most tennis fans probably don't care about nationality that much. Stop being so racist.

[JZ735]

SERENA:

Get OVER it BEEEEEEEEE­EEEEEEEEEE­EEEEEEEEEE­EEEEEEEEAT­TTTTCH!

[DaisyDooks]

Speak for yourself, blind arse.

[postman66]

The video

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2902841/serena_williams_acuses_martinez_sanchez_of_cheating_french/

The real Serena

http://passtheword.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/senera1.jpg

[sent2null]

The video from the side proves it, the girl did cheat. As for the comment below claiming that no one in sports is honest, that is just horse manure. How about we just agree that the girl cheated and leave it at that, stop trying to reduce the impact of her implicit dishonesty by claiming (without any evidence) that ALL sports players do it...that'­s such a weak logical fallacy.

[ToddStewart]

It's not a weak logical fallacy, because it wasn't a cheat, it was just a bad call that went her way, caveat umpire. She didn't correct the ump because athletes normally don't; Serena probably wouldn't have corrected the ump either if the call had gone her way. I suspect the difference in the way different people see this issue is largely a matter of whether they themselves have ever played a sport on a high level or not. True that when a player does correct a bad call that went his way, as sometimes happens, it's applauded as good sportsmanship and rightly so, but that doesn't mean he's a cheat if, as happens in most cases, he doesn't. Any player knows that some dubious calls will be for him and some against him, it all evens out and it's all in the game, and his responsibility is to play the sport and take whatever the game and the umpire give him, not to be trying to do the umpire's job for him; that's not what he's there for.

[AN2009]

Serena Williams won the match so who cares whether Maria Sanchez cheated or not. She reminds me of those kids who score a 97 on a test but then start complaining because they believe they should receive an extra point or two. Give it a rest.

[Anonani]

Shameless!

[k6007]

Tell it to the reporter that asked the question. serena called it like she'd seen it, good for her!

[BoneyT]

Did Serena know that she was going to win the match at the time of the incident? That point could have been a pivotal point in the match. While playing a match, and you see a mistake by the referee, would you argue your position or just take it ? It is competition, right ?

[TR12]

Love that girl
Common is a lucky man

[Markson]

She did cheat! She even laughed immediately after she got away with it. Serena was right to call that fool out.

[Principaldad]

When was the last time anyone in professional competitive sports (other than golf) went against a judge and called a penalty on themselves? It just doesn't happen, whether it is football, baseball, soccer, or tennis. It is left up to the judges and umpires to make the calls. No baseball player is going to overrule the umpire and call himself out. It may be the honest thing to do but it just doesn't happen.

On the flip side, it is childish to call your opponent a cheat for something as silly as not calling a penalty on themselves. Cheating is a deliberate act that requires forethought. It would be cheating to intentionally let the ball hit your arm while trying to hide it from the judge. The proper person to complain to and about is the judge. Yell and scream at the judge all you want, but don't call your opponent a cheat unless they are.

[k6007]

I can see by your post, you have NO IDEA what happened.

[Principaldad]

I can't see video on this computer. I will watch it tonight.

I took the posts claiming that the ball hit her at face value. People claimed that she put her arm and racket up and that the ball hit both. The judge called it a good shot and she didn't correct him. That is the argument that is being made AGAINST Sanchez. That does not constitute cheating.

If something different happened (like she set up a tent to obscure the judge's view so that she could hit the ball with her arm instead of a racket) let me know.

[Irmanator]

A long time ago I remember Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe playing each other and Borg reversed a call that went in his favour and gave John the point. Those moments are few and far between, as you say.
Also in soccer teams will (usually) give up possession of the ball by kicking it out of bounds if a player is down. The etiquette demands that the receiving team throw the ball back to the other team when bringing it back inbounds.

[Principaldad]

Instead of stating "it just doesn't happen" I should have said "it almost never happens." It is also a lot more rare in the last several years. I remember Borg playing McEnroe but I didn't remember that call.

I should also have not used soccer as an example. I don't know enough about it. I should have said basketball.

[Mchris1947]

So what you're saying is, it's not cheating if you don't get caught, or if you can rationalize it was unintentional. Hmmm, OK.

[DaisyDooks]

lol

[Principaldad]

I am not rationalizing anything. Cheating in sports is a deliberate act. It results in more than just losing a point (usually a loss of match or worse).

A bad call is bad luck for one player and good luck for the other. You can call it unsportsmanlike, dishonest, or bad ettiquette, but it is not cheating.

[PHUNKFARM]

you have any question about Serenas class and the way she handles being completely robbed ou watch this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtkKdCeQgQM

[Paige107]

Right or wrong, all the sobbing reeks. No class ... but then we're a nation that loves (to hate?) our crybabies ... like McEnroe.

Still ...

[ReportThis]

BIG girl.

[DaisyDooks]

Fabulous muscular, athletic woman.

[Paige107]

I could agree but for all the tantrums. Kind of takes away from the "fabulous".

[pdsimdars]

While Serena may be called "dramatic", if you watched that match (as I did), they re-played that shot in slow motion many times. Once, they stopped it several times. One shot they stopped at was when it bounced off Sanchez's ARM. That means, like Serena said, there wasn't a question about it, that ball hit her on the arm and the referee should have asked to see her arm as there would have been a mark.
And, by the way, that picture of Serena that accompanies this article is NOT from that point. That picture is from her final, winning point in the match.

[MedinaM]

You're completely right. I hope those that don't watch tennis or didn't watch this match don't make assumptions about Serena.

[k6007]

Too late.