Serena's Sorry Meltdown

Wow... Never saw this before... A tennis match ending like this... Serena Williams was defeated by Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5 in the semis of the U.S. Open. The match ended in a controversy. Clijsters was leading 6-5 in the second set when Serena was called for a foot fault. Serena vehemently disagreed with the call... Replays showed that it was a very close call, possibly a bad one... but very close. But Serena lost control. Instead of arguing the call, she verbally assaulted the line judge. The audio was somewhat tough to hear but it looked like Williams threatened to shove the *expletive omitted* ball down the women's throat. That's not nice. She definitely gestured with the ball and later racket. That much I do know. This is supposed to be a gentleman's sport. Serena definitely did not act in a sportsmanlike manner. Her behavior got her a point deduction. So that ended the match. Serena went to Clijsters, who had no idea what was going on, and congratulated her. Williams was on her way.

One of my colleagues had a great point and I think he's 100% right. Serena lost the match because her point deduction happened to be on match point. He said that her behavior should have should have ended the match on its own merits (or demerits) and I agree. His point was that if this happened in the first set, there would have been a point deduction and that would have been it. In the NBA, 2 technical fouls and you're gone or if the behavior is bad enough, the referee can throw you out without the 2 techs. She threatened that line judge and did it for an extended period of time. In baseball, the umpire would have thrown her out long ago. Serena's behavior was definitely bad enough for the match to end even if it were in the first set. Since I am not the tennis guru, I do not know if there is a rule that will basically end a match because of a competitor's bad behavior. I tried looking it up but didn't come up with anything. If there isn't, there certainly should be. For what it's worth, Serena said she didn't threaten the line judge. The audio says differently.