Serena disciplinary fate could take weeks to decide

I don't think tennis will be tennis without serena, most of the time serena and vee are the only reason i watch, she has already been fined and i think that is enough, there should NOT be a suspension and should receive her prize money. she is sorry for what she said and the way she reacted, now its time to let it go and move on.

It is very sad that WTA is looking so far into the issue like this. How many times have they ever called foot fault on a tennis player? The problem is that they need to realize that SERENA is a GREAT tennis player and they refuse to let her be the number one tennis player in the world. I think that side line coach fabrocated the entire story about Serena threatened to do bodily harm. Serena did the best thing for apologizing for her behavior on the court, because she is loved by alot of fans. Serena keep your head up and remember this too shall past. DID THEY BAN MCENROE from tennis for his loud outburst. breaking tennis rackets, and cursing? NO! they gave him a job as a commentator, a smile along with fortune and fame

#34
i agree with you. as a matter of fact, all of us are human beings, so everyone will make mistake. serena is one of us, no doubt she will do as we have done, especially when the incident was taking place during a crucial & hot situation. if all of us were in her shoes, the least part or most part of us would become as quiet & calm as a lake or lagoon without a single small wave? i think the former will do. i would admit i were the latter. so long as she can realize & apologize for what she did wrong, that's pretty much ok. there is no need for some of us to hold her wrongdoing firmly in hoping that wta would suspend her in 2010. hopefully wta would not do it because the organization has already fined serena.
although i'm not serena's fan, i like watching her play---full of power & speed. sometimes her performances would have been erratic---lacking ball control, yet most of the time she & her sister can make spectators feel the appeal & attractiveness of tennis.

This is just really ridiculous, she's been fined and has apologized, the WTA should just stop with this! Are they that small minded that they would stand in the way of Serena's great play of tennis! She is a great tennis player, there is no doubt about it and she's proved it over and over, but I guess now someone has decided that this Williams sister has done soooooooooo wrong???? Well, I think not because if they do something like this to Serena they had better go back and fine every person I've watched on National Television smash their rackets, say bad words and curse the empires and besides this! Not that I'm a superstar tennis player or anything, me and maybe another two or three thousands tennis fans would totally march on the WTA's head quarters and protest any and all offenses every done by a tennis player male or female that was publicly shown and we don't have to look far, even at the same US Open 2009. They fined her when the so called No. 1 player threw her racket so many times during her final match it was sad!!!!!!!!!!!!! Serena has been punished and should be left alone to concentrate on her tennis and fitness so that she can come out in 2010 and show the WTA who she really is!!!!!!!! A GREAT TENNIS PLAYER, NO THE NO. 1 TENNIS PLAYER IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Serena I am one of your biggest tennis fans and I'll never stop cheering for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Show all of the haters who you really are!!!!!!

#31
i'm "flattered". it seems to me that you are not so familiar with tennis either. whether I'm able to be back or not doesn't matter with me, coz everyone, including you & me, will do as you said. in fact, what you had said made yourself seemingly become a guy who would go back to the earth again. not only do i doubt, i think all the guys except you will doubt it too. anyway, naturally there is daydreamer in the world, regardless of whether it will be able to come true.
let's enjoy tennis without any biases. if not, enjoyment & entertainment will go 180-degree against its
original purpose. don't you think it regretful? at least i'll.

#31 you are so far out in space you will never come down.

# 1 & 3
are you guys who have no idea what tennis is like? from your brief posts here, i really doubt if you have knowledge of tennis. to my thinking, all the viewers, readers here or fans are supposed to enjoy the great performances during the matches. if you are the fan of someone, you may expect her/him to defeat all the players to be the # 1 player in the world, even you can offer her/him your advice or wonderful tactics & strategies to help her/him to reach their goal as you've expected.
to my surprise so much, you are expecting your favorites to be the winner by banning others to take part in the matches or tournament. what i can say is you are absolutely a layman of tennis without any idea of appreciating or enjoying tennis. more realistically & practically, you guys may as well purchase a game station in which there is tennis game. then you can use whatever idea, plan as well as your quickest finger skills to make your player win the game. i bet you can always expect your idol to be the winner.

Donald R you havent seen Serena play very much if U think she's always had that attitude. I believe ur afraid of Serenas passion for the sport she loves. U cant pile everyone into the same boat thinkin we should all incl her act exactly the same.We're all diff. We do not think the same despite people wanting us to so they can herd us into some form of control.
Serena has always had a good attitude towards others & her sport. & then there's the, now 2nd school in Africa that shes going to open in 2011 using several hundred thousand to a mill of her own money for kids along with help from HP with computers & others areas for school kids. Thats only a fraction of what she does to help others.
So u tell me, is she a person with a bad attitude or does she really care about others around her? I mean no disrespect to U, however, I suggest U look & act on things more clearly with re: to Serena instead of using 1 poor judgemental incident to cremate her as ur doing. She is not the tyrant u make her out to be. If u knew half of what I know about her & what she does u'd change ur tune in a heartbeat. We have all lost it at one point or another. Human nature. Doesnt make it right but it does happen nonetheless.
I started a list which was sent to the ITF that had over 2000 names on it, for them not to suspend her & to ask the ITF not to have players do interviews until they've calmed down if there was an incident. One simply cant think clearly when one is so upset. Serena knows what she did was wrong & she regrets it.
I also get emails from her reg. I chat with her & Venus on facebook & twitter, she & Vee know who I am & why I support them for all they do for tennis & the world.
I also let Serena know what she did was wrong & I encouraged her to apologize even more than she did the day after it happened as did several fans on her website, but I also let her know I still support her, I understood her anger over a blown call, and we all make mistakes we regret incl the line judge.
Also it wasnt her agent or anyone who told her to apologize further. She said in the end she wanted to herself, once she had calmed down fully over a call that lost her the match in the end.
Injecting thoughts into a blog without true evidence such as "agent told her....etc" is wrong & untruthful. Those comments arent true unless you 1) talked to Serena. 2) Talked directly to the ITF 3) Talked to her agent.

I will say this though. I was told from an inside source there is a good chance she will be suspended for 1 tournament. Possibly the Aussie Open or a Tier 1 event early in the yr such as Miami or some earlier tournie. They haven't decided yet & there is a possibility that she will only incur another fine, which I'm told could be as much as $250,000, but that could incur a lawsuit since she did play into the semis, so they're not sure right now & that in part, is the delay, but if people think she def. wont be suspended, U may be in for a surprise come mid to late November when theyre announcing the additional penalties for her. The talk is it could very well happen but arent sure just yet.
Lets not judge on 1 incident but lets also be fair that she has never had a bad attitude. I think several of U r sensative to her passion, & insensative to her as a person. She cares what others think about her, as we all do about everyone & we want people to look at us as good people, unless ur Dick Cheney or someone like that, but she's also human & gets upset & made a bad mistake. She's learned her lesson.
Thanks

I agree with Steve.. I feel the ITF will use good judgement and not inflict any further penalty on Serena . She has been bashed and torn apart and that's enough. There has not been much discussion about the wrong done to her by the linesperson and she has hardly complained about that - instead she said she was sorry. I hope the ITF will allow Serena to play on for America - we need her. Thanks.

@25johnp

I totally agreee with your statement. They hate her, but they watched her matches hoping she would lose, and that woud give them reason to talk trash about her on the board. What is so funny, they tolerate Venus, only because she is not as outspoken as Serena, because if she has the same amount of grand slam and she was controversial as Serena, they would hate her just the same.

There is not going to be any suspension for Serena. The IFT knows it and so does Serena, if only the hater would get it through their thick skull. Afterall, the love Serena in Australia.
FYI. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/15102009/58/serena-confirm-sidney-participation.html

Post #26, her past behavior is nothing to brag about. She has had controversy in nearly every tournament she has been in.

John Macenroe use to yell and scream and curse out the court judge and line judges all the time. I remember times when he would carry on so bad he would break rackets and any microphones that were on during the game had to be turned off so the TV audience would not be able to hear it. She has one outrageous event and they are talking about banning her. I think she should have to pay a price but not that. Besides this incident she has never done anything like this before and her past behavior should be taken into consideration.

SERENA SHOULD PLAY...Why?

1. A decision has already been rendered. She has been fined. She has been allowed to play subsequent to the incident. PERIOD. Imposing additional sanctions against her would not only be unfair, it very well could be illegal and
subject the ITF to a lawsuit with the main infraction being double jeapardy

2. Ironically, the incident will draw MORE viewers to her matches ; even from non-traditional tennis fans.

3. Non Wms. fans will watch EVERY match hoping and praying for her to lose and not wanting to miss a beat(more ratings and viewers).

4. Those who claim to want the imposition of ITF sanctions really in their hearts would rather see her get a beat down on the court so that can come on the blogs and gloat and put the Serena supporters on the defensive.

5. Wms. supporters? See the opposite of #3.

6. The Serena haters have ironically elevated her status to that of Jesus by virtue of their calls for a crucifixion.

7. More money!!

The above 7 items are FACTS so don't even try it.

Oh please! Other woman are screaming on every hit, which is very distracting to other players. You have others who are babies, smashing their rackets when they don't get their way. And you have other players who have had outbursts and no suspensions. If Serena is suspended from the Australian Open, I think it will be very disapointing. She should definitely play! If I was out there, with that point, and everyone looking at me, i would have reacted the same. There was no physical harm done to anyone. I hope they can move on and let her play, because she definitely deserves to! It would be a huge loss to the Australian Open is Serena isn't there, even with all the other players!

Post #22, glad to hear it, that could work to my advantage.

@#20 DonaldR

You are so stupid! We, Serena fas have written the ITF, and WTA and voice our opinion on the same subject matter. The only difference is, we are one step ahead of you. And you know what happens when Black folks get together, we create a fuss. We are very close to White Plians, New York, it's just a bus ride away. What you don't seem to understand Serena has over "two millions' fans on her web site. We have been e-mailing the ITF everyday voicing our opinion, they surely don't need to look like 'Racist' if they even think of suspending her anytime soon. DonaldduckR, just keep holding your breath.

Even the thought of a ban is pure bias, how many time was mccenroe fined leave alone banned ?if you wonna make tennis a white affair go right a head and do it we will be happy not to watch.Wonder what would happen if we didnt have black athletes in
the us the likes of mj, lebrown,serena ,venus,allison felix.floyd mayweather,mohammed ali,mcnabb,james blake,barrack obama,denzel washington just to mention a few we would never be entertained like we all are,so you all racist m888fk bycott basketball,football,tennis,movies,politics,by the way my president is black now so continue hating while we move a few things around hereeeeee

I urge everyone that feels Serena should be suspended to write or e-mail the ITF and WTA and voice your opinion. Otherwise she may get off with a slap on the wrist, which she is counting on.

I don't know way they are taking so long to suspend her. She certainly deserves it. Her attitude and poor sportsmanship has gone on long enough, put an end to it. At least a one year suspension is needed or she will treat it as a vacation.

"Cash Rules Everything Around Me gotta get the CREAM ya'll dollar dollar bill" with that being said, and the marketability of the Williams franchise lets be serious. The committee is enjoying the attention while they belabor over an obvious issue. No punishment at all.

Serena is # 1 , I have no problem with that . I like her TENNIS ( only the skill of tennis , when she on her A game ) . I just don't understand WHY ? WHY ? WHY ? .TO SOME PEOPLE that : Even Serena did not take a BATH for the whole week ... She's still smell soooo good to them . PEACE

Ban, the world no. ONE? what happens to the line gudge? wta will continue to encourage scrupulous gudges to continue with nagative actions. after viewing what happened the female line judge be given a verbal warning too. considring the tension in that particular macth, the $10 000 fine was enough.
If serena is baned i will never watch any tennis match again.

Ding Dong Delores is wearing those blinkers again

Alice ..............hope in vein baby hope in vein,