Serena vs. the Tiny Teller

The excitement at last night's rain delayed US Open Women's Semifinal match between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters provided tennis fans a rare glimpse into the dynamics of abuse. My family says I can find the abuse angle in just about anything, and admittedly I seem to have a good nose for it, but even I can't remember such an example in professional sports. At least not since the good ole days of Johnny Mac. But in those days, my sense of smell wasn't what it is today. Okay, so I'm passionate about the subject. Don't get me started. Now back to the match.

Serena was called for a foot fault on a second serve. The automatic double fault led to match point against her. The match was still undecided at that point, despite Serena being down a set and a match point, as she is well known for her uncanny ability to come back from the depths of adversity to win. But her temper got in the way of her plan, as she stated later in her press conference, to hit "a couple of aces" to win the game, and "keep going". Problem is that, according to Wikipedia, rage "denotes aggression where there is anger present...that is characterized by impulsive thinking and a lack of planning".

We all know that Serena is a powerful physical presence on the court. On her way to serve the next point, Serena turned every ounce of that power towards the small woman seated in the chair at the baseline whose job it is to call a fault when she sees a toe cross over the service line. She started by gesturing towards the woman with a tennis ball in her hand, colorfully describing how she would like to shove it down her throat. Then she leaned in and gestured with her outstretched racket, waiving it up and down from the elbow. After returning to the baseline to serve, she made another pass at the official, gesturing once again and moving towards her. It is not often that so many people, the world really, witness such an act of aggression. Caught on videotape with a hot mike, there can be no doubt about what happened. Some believe there is still significant doubt about whether there really was a foot fault, but that determination is entrusted to the official, and even Serena later said that she probably did foot fault and did not doubt that it was a call made in the official's best judgment.

So the small woman scurried to the chair umpire stand when summoned to disclose what was said to her. Bravely, right there in front of everyone. The instant power that is generated when someone "tells" never ceases to amaze me. The New York crowd stuck up for the tiny teller and the abuser loser left the court in shame, boos following her into the tunnel.

What happened next was, according to CBS tennis analyst Mary Carillo, an Academy Award winning performance by Ms. Williams. George Vecsey of the New York Times described how she spoke in her "weirdly disassociated voice, the one she uses to hold people off," saying that she didn't know why the woman would have felt threatened. Basically dismissing the event, Serena said she wanted to move on. Usually it is the abuse victim who disassociates which, according to Wikipedia, is a "normal response to trauma and allows the mind to distance itself from experiences that are too much for the psyche to process at that time". Apparently it was just too much for Serena to process that she had unleashed a profane, abusive tirade on the court against an official that she admitted was just doing her job, costing her a possible spot in the US Open final. We have no way of knowing how the victim processed the experience because she didn't give a press conference.

So abuse occurs, the victim tells, the victim gets the support she deserves, the abuser is punished, and we all feel good that we don't tolerate such things. I guess you could say we have Serena Williams to thank for demonstrating the way things are supposed to work, but rarely do. If only we could magically, as a society, witness each and every case of abuse that occurs on a daily basis so that we could encourage the victims to tell, protect them when they do, punish the abuser, and feel good about our role as caretakers of the powerless. Thanks, Serena, for at least showing us what it looks like. If only we could magically know how very often it doesn't work this way. Then maybe we could do something about it.

Comments

[JusticeGKR]

Serena was wrong, but in good journalism, we would normally see similar incidents replayed, so that we have a comparative perspective on what has been tolerated in the past, and how it was handled. EVERYONE knows that McEnroe is tennis’ poster boy for bad behavior, yet we've seen no video footage that puts this “bad boy” on display. Has he been given a pass because he's a white male sportscaster tennis legend?

In ice hockey, bad behavior is routinely accepted--to the point where some watch the game more for the fight than the sport. Hockey is virtually a "white" sport. If it were black, would such behavior be tolerated? Over and over again, we’ve seen bad behavior by white athletes being viewed within the range of normal, or eccentric, cute, idiosyncratic, etc. that when exhibited by black people becomes abhorrent, off-the charts, inexcusabl­e--dangero­us. Does anyone believe that a “black McEnroe” would have been possible? There still seems to be the expectation that Jackie Robinson must show up to bat in every sport--suffering abuse, internalizing it, and dying at an early age--with people mourning him as a great pioneer, who "took it all" with silence and grace. Or Althea Gibson who was kind, courteous, and "ladylike" to a fault and died in poverty. Then there's Arthur Ashe, who fit the role model profile perfectly. Serena has given and taken a lot, but last week the pressure in the kettle finally blew.

[capitalismisntamoral]

Not sure if re-airing a broadcaster's similar behavior from 20+ years ago is that relevant.
Anyone who followed tennis back in the 80s was well familiar with his reputation and some of his worst moments.

McEnroe was defaulted from the Australian Open for his behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McEnroe
Final years on the tour:

One could argue that Mac's behavior was somewhat calculated, especially since he claimed to be unaware of the rule change. At other times his outbursts may have been calculated to upset his opponent.

I don't recall Mac cursing at the officials (much). Also his insults were general, not describing in excruciating detail what he wanted to do with various tennis apparatus.

And, btw, I'm a fan of Serena. very disappointing. Unfortunately, her behavior and Kanye's will be used by ugly people to justify their hateful beliefs. Race is definitely a factor. This is America, after all.

I don't see her, personally, having paid much of a price for it.
She is off on her book promotion tour, making more money. That's what I assumed was behind the academy award performance right afterward.

[JusticeGKR]

In a tournament that saw the emergence of two stars under the age of 20, and in an environment where many high school students don’t know who the first president of the United States was, using past events as a reference point is useful and appropriate--as I said elsewhere, if only to demonstrate the egregiousness of her actions. I began my post by saying Serena was wrong. Not only was she wrong, but she should have issued her later “PR” statement sooner.

I imagine that we might both agree that cable television is dominated with a lot of repetitious minutia. Giving a fuller account and analysis of Serena’ past experiences of having been blatantly wronged by calls in the past, facing unethical players (Henin), as well as audiences who have sometimes rooted for foregners over her—all seem relevant to me, particularly when she has weathered these incidents with exemplary grace. At the same time, I think her father’s lack of sportsmanship in the Williams Sister’s teen-aged days is also worth mentioning.

I am not interested in defending anyone’s bad behavior, although I am a fan of the Williams Sisters and will continue to be, but I do think that given the notoriety of the incident, the backstory and context are relevant.

[capitalismisntamoral]

A more pertinent comparison than Mac, might be Federer's argument with the umpire from Monday's final. He was arguing about how delPotro asked for help from his people in the stands as to whether to challenge a call. The game was over and the players were sitting down for the changeover. dPotro decided to challenge very late and Federer complained about how late it was. The umpire allowed the computer challenge, which failed, and Fed won the game. Just as they were going to commercial, Federer (that god among us mortals) was clearly heard to say "don't tell me to shut up. I'll talk when I want to talk. I don't give a s*** about ... "

I'm pretty sure the announcers did not even acknowledge the outburst/language AT ALL when they returned from the break. This was a couple of days after Serena's episode, and it was (gasp!) Federer, so not that surprising that the tennisgencia were closing ranks.

[JusticeGKR]

The remarks were uncharacteristic for Federer, but I imagine worse has been heard. And his comments were not on the scale of Serena's. I'm not even sure McEnroe's were either actually, but it would have been appropriate to them into the discussion if only to emphasize egregious her infraction was.

[Heckyea]

I like your creative analysis. But I think you have the roles reversed. You teller in this case is not one individual but part of a larger exploitative system. In order for abuse to occur the abuser needs to have power over the abused. In this case as we have obviously seen. Serena had no power, no real outlet to protest the unfair call. Her only recourse was to express her anger as loudly as possible and hope that the abuse ceased. Instead, she was very clearly put in her place. Two "parental authorities came onto the court and protected the line judge and through her protected the entire system. I guess what gave it away was when you said the something to the effect of "The System worked for once". Well we all know that a professional tennis tournament is not a highly function group therapy environment and in fact the opposite is true. It is the most basic capitalistic system setup to exploit athletes for profit and protect itself at all costs.

[bigb8766]

Referees and umpires need to have thick skin. It is astoundingly clear that you have never played a sport competitively. Ever since sport has been played, referees have been yelled at, called names, ridiculed, etc, by coaches and players alike. Is it right? Maybe not. But it is part of the game whether you "utopians" agree or not. As far as "abuse"? I find that laughable.

[singlewhite]

Wow, thanks for including a clear-headed post on this incident, and indicating some of the real issues and sources for consternation; again, thank you...your fellow posters expounding bias were making me mildly ill...