Serena Williams has been fined $10,000.00 for her outburst on the court towards a line judge that allegedly made a bad call. Williams, upset about the call, told the line judge that she was lucky she was not shoving the ball down her throat. Explicit language was used during her temper tantrum. She also received an additional fine of $500.00 for racket abuse which occurred prior to her meltdown.
According to numerous articles, suspension from next years tournament may be possible. If the administrator of the Grand Slam Committee finds that she committed a major offense, she will not only be suspended from the tournament next year, she will also be fined all of the money that she earned at the tournament. Quite Frankly, I think that is going to far. Granted, what she did was uncalled for, but we have all said things we have regretted. I realize she may be held to a higher standard because of her status, but she is human and it is not like she has had these outbursts before. This is a very minimal infraction compared to other professional athletes who have done far worse. She has paid for her actions, let it go.
Williams did apologize and amended her original apology on Sunday, to add, " I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it's not the way to act -- win or lose, good call or bad call in any sport, in any manner." Williams has admitted her unprofessional behavior and appeared to be very sincere in her statements. If this type of behavior continues to be an issue for her then more severe consequences should be sought, but this is only one incident. The fines she received were more than adequate, lets not make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Kim, Kim, Kim
ReplyDeleteYes, she behaved badly. No, there's no place for that in a high profile job like "tennis star". But, at what point do you set the standard for what is and is not acceptable? Great, she apologized 15 times, much like Kanye West did after the way he did Taylor Swift at the MTV awards. And eventually, she thought to tell the kids who watch/play tennis they shouldn't act that way. $10,000 to her is like $5 to us. She's not feeling that fine; she'll probably find a way to write it off when tax time comes. I don't know what the appropriate punishment is, but she needs to feel it a little more than a fine.
But. Overall, you did state your case and do so well. Just 'cause I don't agree......
I agree with both you and Darla. The thing is that everyone makes mistakes. It is harder for a high profile person to make these mistakes and then be able to recover. Honestly, I just recently went off on someone and I am not sorry for it at all, but a professional athletes have children that look up to them. I don't think the fine is very much at all for someone at her level.. maybe instead they should have done some community service with kids.. she could have explained that she was wrong but you have to do the right thing after. For someone with her hero status I think it would have been effective. Good post.
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