Tennis is a sport that is steeped in tradition and protocol and reserved boxes for the Royals when it's Grand Slamming in England. One needs money to take tennis lessons. It's not as if you can get 6 guys together and toss the ball around in a vacant lot and begin to learn the game.
So it's news when the woman who was probably 9-5 in Vegas to win it all, went "off" in the semi's of the US Open last week. Serena Williams who, later publicly acknowledged past issues with her temper, slammed her racket to the ground and broke it in the first set over a line call, and then after a disputed foot fault in the final set walked over to the line judge and ripped her a new one. If you haven't seen it you need to 'you tube' that display. It was boorish and embarrassing. Reminiscent of those male whiners: Nastase, Connors and McEnroe. In sports, in the heat of the battle, with s'loads of adrenaline pumping, sometimes athletes just can't help themselves. But, there are written and unwritten 'no-no's. In baseball, you never discuss balls and strikes with an umpire face to face. You never ever touch an ump on the gridiron and you don't come off the bench in basketball altercations. In tennis, though, the crustiest of all sports, there's ample room for a public free fall.
Chris Evert who won 18 Grand Slam titles was nicknamed 'the ice maiden.' She was the epitome of cool on the court, and calculating when serving up a dose of that artic chill. When disputing calls, Evert, stared down the judge with a glacial gaze that was withering. Sometimes, but evidently not lately, that's all you need in your arsenal.
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