Abigail,
Please tell Mary the next time you see her that at the qualifying rounds this past summer at the US Open, my teenage sons witnessed Michael Russell's tirade against the umpire. He threatened him, telling the umpire that he better not come down off the chair because he will rip his head off. Does this qualify as "physically threatening"? I'm not condoning what Serena did, but Mary is a little naive if she thinks that no other players have treated an umpire or referee in that way in any sports on any stage.

Mary, you voiced your opinions quite clearly on the first day, okay, but to rant on about it constantly is abusing your position as a commentator, in a very public forum, on the matches,and is frankly very tedious.
While on the point of commentating, Your skill should lie in keeping viewers atention on the court and on each nuance of the play -who cares if it is time the kids went to school, or who is in the next round of the draw when the server is winding up to serve for the match. You and Mary Jo have ruined the tennis with your "Talk show chit chat" rather than wisely considered comments. If you can't think of anything of relevance to say, say nothing, it is quite good to let the tennis fans build up the tension in their own minds. - unless of course you are being paid by the word in which case please pass this on to the producer.

Abigail,

The fact is the tennis establish has had their say; it's over with, it's done. She needs to shout her trap up about, but no she continue to go on and on and it's really getting that she obese with Serena. Tell me Abigail what does Johnny Mac millions of dollars have to do with this?, so just because he made millions of dollars for being a bad boy then his bad behavior is okay. She sound silly, petty, and very much jealous to me. I like for her to stop with all this murder business, and she naive to think that sexism and racism didn't play a part in this. Serena did take it to far, but she was pointing the racquet in a way that one points his or her finger , so she wasn't using it as a weapon but it was in her hand at that time. The bottom line is tell her to let it go because it seems like people whom have flaws have," Oh, I FORGOT MARY IS PERFECT AND DOESN"T MAKE MISTAKES".

You have to respect Mary Carillo's stance on the Serena tirade. She seemed to disagree with it on principle, not so much because it was Serena. However, she seems to take it too far now. Every time she's on for a Serena match, she won't stop. She needs to accept the deciison, while disagreeing with it.

Although I'm a huge Serena fan, am african american, and feel the Williams' sisters have experienced no small amount of unfair treatment at the hands, mostly, of white American tennis fans, I agree with Mary. Perhaps, as Abigail says, Michael Russell threatened an umpire as well. That, however, does not alter the fact that a token financial penalty was/is meaningless to Serena. The evidence of that was in how fast she paid the fine; I believe she wrote a check the same day. Sadly, the only way to have really made the point to other, especially elite, players would have been to suspend her either for a certain amount of time or for a particular event, the most appropriate candidate being the 2010 U.S. Open. Otherwise,

VAMOS RAFA!!!!!!!!!

Slight error. I meant, perhaps, as "tennis mama" said.

The decision has been made. The decision stands. Mary Carillo needs to move on. We are not interested inher opinion about the situation only the facts. I only want to hear her anlaysis of the tennis match not her soap opera comments. She is not a talk show host but a sports commentary.

Look folks, Abagail asked Mary about the Serena Tirade and Mary answered the question. It is true however, that Mary does indeed blather on about The Tirade on-air, but then she (along with Mary Jo and Pam) blather on about all sorts of nonsense (as others have posted). They've replaced insight with idle chatter and seem to think that the match would hold no interest without them filling the air with incessant verbiage. Cliff and Patrick, I think, find the right balance and enhance a match with their restraint and well-chosen comments. With Mary Jo, Mary and Pam, it all too often seems like another episode of The View.

Abigail,

Carillo is a hypocrite with regards to Serena and the incident. This weekend ESPN showed a montage of Andy Roddick's outbursts at officials. They laughed and giggled like it was cute the way Roddick belittled and berated officials.

ESPN lots an incredible amount of credibility. I was disgusted by their suggestion that Andy's behavior should be celebrated.

Like Serena said, "It's a man's world"! It's time to move on.

This holier- than- thou attitude is rubbish.
Serena was in an important moment in the match, her adrenalin was sky high and in the end she didn't shove the ball down the lineswoman's throat so..... NOTHING HAPPENED.
Let it go.
Does anyone go on about David Beckham kicking that guy in the leg a few World Cups ago or Zidane head butting that other guy in the last world cup? No, but something actually happened there.
If, as a sports commentator you can't understand situations as they arise then you shouldn't be doing this job. Try flower arranging for Martha Stewart.... but, maybe she is also a no go in light of her prison term. Any other kid- leather- glove suggestions for alternative employment.....?

I think the Michael Russell event is an example of exactly why people like Serena need to be punished severely for her tirade. The message you do not want to send to up and coming players is "it's okay to verbally abuse and physically threaten officials"...
The message you do want to send is "this sport in no way condones violence". If you threaten anyone, you will be booted from the tournament and suspended for 3 months.

Also, I think that Mary Carillo has every right to chat about the incident while Serena is playing. Had Serena not written that ridiculous blog, then gone on Sportscenter to make her point ot a wider audience, Carilo might have let it slide. But Carillo is rightly furious to think that Serena got a very light penalty, and she should NOT be complaining about it. And if Serena chooses to complain, she should expect some push back.

Unfortunately for Serena, she's the one that has continually mishandled the PR side of this event. Because of that people are still talking about it. Had she apologized immediately, seemed genuinely contrite, paid her fine and kept her mouth shut (no blogging) this would all be water under the bridge right now. As it stands, I'm with Carillo.

Has there been any talk of standardizing the foot faults called on players?

Oh come on Fib, do you really think had Serena done what you suggest this story would not be in the headlines anymore? Let's face it, this is now a ratings draw, so we are going to be hearing about it for a while because it brings a wider audience to tennis. Everyone wants to watch that girl who threatened an umpire.
I think Serena SHOULD have been suspended, but the truth is tennis is a business. And in a business, your sole goal is to maximize your profits. The way you do that is not by suspending an already big ratings booster. You keep her in the game and take every opportunity to exploit the incident to ensure it reaches the widest audience.

Ku, you're right, it would still be a story if Serena had handled it well, but I do think it would be a non issue. Everyone, not just Serena fans, would say "Wow, that moment was crazy. Serena really handled it with grace, though. I'm sure she's glad that moment is behind her." It would be part of the montage of Serena moments before every match she plays, but it wouldnt be all that Carillo talks about.

As it is, it's still a point of contention, so there is no closure on the issue, and it continues to be a headline.

When is a threat really a threat? Come on! Did anyone think that Serena was serious or just really, really mad? Serena was wrong, and it is not politically correct to say it, but the call was terrible, and unprecedented at that stage of a Grand Slam match. Bygones!

Tennis is a game of millimeters. If you foot fault, you are crossing a clearly demarked boudary. There is no question of whether or not that should be called, no matter what stage of the match you are at. This is not Basketball or the NFL playoffs. This is tennis, and if you stop making line calls because they're 'close' at key points of the match, then the game would be ridiculous.
Yes, there should be a foot fault camera. Yes, being foot faulted sucks. But Serena was foot faulted earlier in the match, so she should have backed up a half inch. And, yes, the line judge has every right, and a duty, to make that call. Even at second serve, deuce, 5 serving 6.

Fib, I don't think I have ever seen tennis commentators let something go. Almost every match involving Serena has brought up USO 2004 with the bad line call, every Henin match talks about AO2006 and so on. They don't let things go, whether they're handled well or not.
Ron, it would be disasterous if we let things slide until someone actually followed through on a threat. Imagine how many stalkers would be walking free. The threat of physical violence alone should be enough to warrant action.

Mary is entitled to her opinion but we don't have to keep hearing it. I don't tune into a match to hear her or Pam or Mary Joe. IMO, it is Mary who violates the integrity of the game with her constant, intrusive, unwelcome comments and stories while a match is being played. You can tell that she is completely enamored with herself and her intellect. It completely disrespects the players and the fan. Some of us viewers really love the game and the commentators (and Mary is the worst offender)should just shut up. Please!!

Thank you Abigail for this insightful and at times funny interview with Mary Carillo. That was very nice of both of you to be able to bring this to us, the tennis fans.

That's why I asked if there was any STANDARDIZED way of telling if there is a foot fault. An error on the part of the umpire dramatically changes the outcome of a tournament. So if every umpire across the baord used your metric, that would be fine. However, depending on the umpire, you do not get consistency in how FF are called. For that reason, it is not fair to just leave it up to the judgement of the umpire. You have to take a stand. Line calls are different because they seem to be called consistently, regardless of the point. So a line judge will call a ball out even on match point, and even if they are wrong sometimes. FF judges seem to forget to do that sometimes, it seems.

i have only one comment here: either carillo is naive or a hypocrite. she doesn't know that andre agassi actually tried to physically harm a lines official in australian open and wimbledon? oh cmon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/07/sports/tennis-agassi-lets-his-emotions-and-rafter-get-the-best-of-him.html?pagewanted=all

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/2001/wimbledon/news/2001/07/06/wimbledon_friday_ap/

enough, move on, you unforgiving naive slash hypocrite.

In bringing up the Russell tirade, it's worth noting that he was engaged with the one official on court that can actually protect himself/herself -- the chair umpire. Line judges are defenseless out there. While we can argue whether the punishment was sufficient or not, the simple fact remains that the Tour has to take action to protect these folks from incidents like this.

Touche, ku. You are absolutely right about the tennis commentators. I guess I'm just saying that none of us would care anymore, the way we don't care about the stuff you mentioned. However, the way this issue stands, I am bothered more by Serena's attitude about the whole situation than I am about her behavior.

i have only one comment here: either carillo is naive or a hypocrite. she doesn't know that andre agassi actually tried to physically harm a lines official at wimbledon? oh cmon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/07/sports/tennis-agassi-lets-his-emotions-and-rafter-get-the-best-of-him.html?pagewanted=all

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/2001/wimbledon/news/2001/07/06/wimbledon_friday_ap/

enough, move on, you unforgiving naive slash hypocrite.

Mary Carillo is the best. She always speaks her mind, and I respect that.

If Serena had made that threat of physical violence outside of a tennis court, she would have been arrested. Roddick was a jackass, but he never physically threatened the umpire.

Also, to "meks" - I can't understand what points you are trying to convey in your little defense of Serena, but perhaps you should direct some of your excess energy into writing or grammar lessons. Is it me or are Serena fans generally the most inarticulate of all tennis fans?

If Mary C & Mary Jo were no longer covering tennis that would be music to my ears & millions of others. They are both entirely too opinionated & really feel that majority agree with what they think. Well here's a news flash.....MAJORITY DESPISE WHAT YOU BOTH SAY & WISH THAT WE DID NOT HAVE TO HEAR OR READ A WORD THAT EITHER OF YOU HAVE TO SAY.

They are horrible for women's tennis and think that fans only want to see men's matches. That is BS. As a matter of a fact I know several people who do prefer women's tennis to mens. And yes the women are treated differently than the men. Though Roger Federer had to pay less then Serena he did speak very vulgar to the chair umpire. Have you heard them mention that? It happened at the same tournament.

Bottom line is that Serena has endured A LOT throughout her carrier especially at the US Open. That is why we now have the challenge system. It crosses over to other tournaments as well & it really has to do with the officials. Like of course the Henin episode at the French Open. Then last year the Maria Jose Sanchez match where the ball actually hit her & they did not even ask her if the ball hit her. The officials are all too eager to point out any and everything wrong or misunderstood when it comes to Serena. But they also let people get away with A LOT of things against her, as if they did not see these things. I feel that after reviewing the video of her match with Maria Jose Sanchez they should have given her a public apology for not doing their job.

Mary C wants to act like she is so high & mighty with her opinionated behind. But she never points out the clear wrongs that Serena has endured. We all reach a breaking point no matter how good a person we are and Serena was long over do. I do not agree with anyone speaking ugly to anyone, it even bothers me when I have done it. But I do believe that we all reach the poing when enough is enough & people like you Mary C can truly drive people to that point. Serena is a good person and she expressed how she felt and has moved on. Everyone needs to move on. This has been resolved. A true professional would realize this. They would also realize that Serena's fans love here even more now because they know what she has been thru & they know that she is a good person.

Throughout her long career if she had done something like this more than once then you could look at her as to deserve what you feel that she should have gotten Mary C. But her entire career has been stellar even with all of the horrid things that have been allowed to happen to her. Her record speaks for itself. That is why she was vote the #1 female athlete after the episode happened. Serena Williams is loved by millions of fans.

Also if people wanted to see mens matches so much more, then why are you paid to cover womens matches also? Apparantly people want to see those matches as well. Mary C & Mary Jo need to look on line to see how many people think that their comments are in poor taste. Maybe the next time someone asks you if you truly have the class as a person that you believe that you have. Maybe you will say that everything has been resolved and the cards have fell where they may. Because you have to realize that still to this day many people feel that it was a poor call in the first place. I truly believe if they had clear evidence of a foot fault it would have been played a zillion times now. But the lack of a proper video makes it a hard pill to swallow. I believe that it was & will always be a bad call. Just like you & Mary Jo calling any match, that's a bad call too.

i don't think serena is being absolved for her mistake by her apologists. all they're saying is, why the double standard? take andre agassi. take serena williams. you still don't see the double standard? oh, sorry, i shut up.

Roger, do you really want people speaking their mind in every match? What if lets say Venus retired, became a commentator and was a feature in Serena's matches, where she very boisterously spoke her opinion of her little sister? Would that make you enjoy the match more? Or do you enjoy Mary's commentary because you agree with it? At the end of the day, I don't believe a commentator is hired to postulate on their opinions over the course of a two hour match, but rather provide insight into the game and how it's being played. Opinions are for blogs and twitter.

Mary: Enough is enough. Why do you have to keep going on about Serena US open tirade.I have gotten to the point when you speak I mute you. Enough!

Yes, I do prefer that color commentators speak their mind during matches. That's why Mary Carillo, Mcenroe, and Brad Gilbert are so entertaining as commentators. I don't always agree with them, but I respect their opinions.

If Venus were to become a commentator, that would be great. I'm sure her insight into Serena's game would be invaluable. Perhaps Venus could shed some light on the source of Serena's rage issues.

ncot, I had not seen the article you published and think it sheds tons of light on the double-standard issue. PEOPLE, THE ARTICLE POSTED BY NCOT SHOULD BE VIEWED. IT REALLY PLACES THIS WHOLE SERENA TIRADE ISSUE IN CONTEXT.

Roger,

What rage issues are you aware of by Serena? Other than her tirade at the USO (which was certainly angry, but rage? IDK), what incidents of rage on her apart are you aware of? Because in order to diagnose rage issues you have to have a pattern, don't you?

Mary C, Mary Jo and Pam Shriver all irratate the heck out of me.

I hate when they comment on every other player, than the one's actually playing the match they're covering. Hey ladies?? How about sticking to this match before pontificating on how great Federer or Roddick is. You can save that for their actual matches.

Another grievance I have is their commentary during the first round matches -- just listen to the tongue bath they give Clisters and Henin and compare that to their commentary for Venus.

According to the trio, Kim (who I absolutely adore and love seeing back on the tour) is the best at EVERYTHING... Venus on the other hand is stubborn and refuses to learn, that's why she hasn't won anything except Wimbledon.

Both points may be true... but come on. Kim wasn't exactly filling up her trophy case with Major titles before she retired. And while it's quite impressive that she won the U.S. open so soon after coming out of retirement... before that point Kim had won only ONE Major... just ONE. Venus has SEVEN.

They eventually acknowledged that they were nitpicking --- still, by that point I was just screaming... Enough ladies, PLEASE!!

And BTW... if Serena had made the comments Kim made after losing to Kuznetsova, everybody would have been all over Serena for being ungracious. I'm just sayin' :)

Abigail,
A note to Mary Carillo,
We hear you.
Now it's time to move on.
Here's hoping that ESPN in their infinite wisdom does not subject us to a replay of
the incident and its accompanying discussion every time Serena takes to the court.
Best,
Red

carillo can have her opinion that's great, but the part that got us all upset was the fact that she wont shut the **** up about it. Everytime we watch Serena, somehow she finds away to talk about "the tirade" and incesantly berate her! earth to mary, move on with your life as she has with hers! now you are just looking like the obsessed and maybe slightly jealous lunatic! even pam is SICK of listening to you! you are a MOOSE and are not important! you are just trying to get attention and people are sick of you! get over yourself! your nothing!

and as i stated before carillo's dying words: "the one thing i regret is serena not getting suspe.......boooooooooooooooop.

Coming from an American perspective here, but there's a big difference between threatening physical harm and complaining about a call.

For example, when an NBA player complains about a call and jaws at the ref about it, he might get a technical foul, and, with a second technical foul, get kicked out of the game. But if an NBA player threatened a ref with bodily harm, that player would be suspended.

Serena's complaint that men are treated differently is comical. Could you imagine if, say, Marat Safin told some tiny line judge he was going to "take this [bleeping] ball and cram it down your [bleeping] throat" while leaning towards her?

Jadel, you are clearly an angry and disturbed individual. Please seek psychiatric help immediately.

Yeah, Mary... You and your buddies' anti-venus and serena tirade the other night about how you think they didn't put in the effort to improve and how they have plateaued was quite unflattering.

CDW: I agree.

I also hope the williams sisters break Pam Shriver's record for doubles majors.... talk about a chip on the shoulder Pam... let it go. You sound worried.

Mary Jo sounds upset they won't play Fed Cup.

I am hoping that Mary C, Mary Jo and Pam Shriver all get relayed the aformententioned comments so that they can use this as an oppuruntity for growth regarding them as commentators. I would also suggest they get with Bud or Cliff for professional advice regarding the "How to's of commentating"

I will not go over the fact that all 3 of the previously mentioned commentators are extremely biased when commentating o nthe William's Sister but also that they are also very hypocritical. I believe it was Mary Jo and Pam who stated that Venus just goes out there with no game plan and doesnt work on her game. It was much to my delight when Mary Jo interviewed her after her 4th round match that she explicity stated that strategy, scouting and practice are essential components that she takes seriously as a steward of the game. I also find Mary C. stand on Serena to be very niave. As Pam rightfully pointed out, when looking at other professional athletes ( all males) who have threatned or actually made physical contact with umpires or refs their fines or penalties were less than Serena's? Please explain this Mary C. If you trully believe that there were no biased of sexism or racism involved in the decision. I also thought that Mary finding the montage of Andy Roddicks outburst and berating of umpires to be mind boggling. It was almost as if she had forgot the previous conversations that she had on Serena.

Finally the comment that Pam made about Venus never being as good at any other thing as she is at Tennis as a reason not to have outside interest was the most ignorant statement I have ever heard. How very grateful I am that Venus and Serena have ruled tennis between the two of them there way. I oftentimes feel a sense of resentment from many of the women commentators who dedicated their entire world to tennis yet professional careers significantly pale in comparison to that of the William sisters. With that being said, it all make sense. If people are not talking about you, you are not doing anything for people to talk about! That is why no one talks about Mary Jo, Pam S or Mary C. tennis careers when talking about female tennis greats. Sigh. It must be tough.

Mary Carrillo you are an idiot. Please let it go. Simply tired of hearing you gripe about Serena. You do understand that there would be no recognition for US women's tennis if it weren't for the Williams sister. These girls are GREAT at what they do, please give the hatred a rest ( and you were doing this before the incident at the USO last year). Listening to you and Mary Jo drool over Justin and Kim is simply DISGUSTING...are they good players? YES...are they GREAT? not really..so you don't need to try and convince us otherwise.

ESP NEEDS TO GIVE BOTH OF YOU A DAMN SCRIPT!!! NOW!!!

You all now where I came down on the Serena tirade at the 2009 U.S. Open, so I won't rehash my views on that now.

But I will say a thing or two about the roles of the umpire and the line judges, and how this might come into play in our assessment of their jobs and responsibilities and the players' actions toward them.

The line judge's role is to call them as he or she sees them -- noting more or less. And that's why I disagreed with Peter Bodo and with John McEnroe about the foot-fault call by the line judge in Serena's match with Kim. There is not "best time" or "worst timje" to make such a call -- from the eyes of the line judge. In fact, they should not think that way, or think at all, about their calls. If they see it, they should call it. The ball is seen to be either "in" or "out" -- never "out" but because it's match point and it was only out by four millimeters I'll let it go. The foot either touched the line or it didn't. The line judge is not there to make a judgment about what they see, which is why I still prefer the old term, linesperson, dropping the "judge" from the name.

The chair umpire, on the other hand, is primarily a judge and scorekeeper. The chair umpire makes judgments on al knds of things, fro whether the player has been taking too much time to get the ball in play, whether the receiver has been stalling, whether a player is in breach of the codes of conduct, whether a line judge's call was accurate or should be overruled, etc. Now the latter power is one which I personally believe many chair umpires exercise far too frequently, and often at the worst moments, as if they are hyper-sensitive to the score and because of this become anxious NOT to overrule, out of fear that the line judge might have been wrong, etc. Hawk-Eye, wherever it is employed, is going a long way toward keping these chair umpires honest and, thankfully, more silent.

This judgment authority of the chair umpire is clearly where we see the most abuse, as well as the most common sense prevail. In the Roddick v. Gonzalez match, Gonzo clearly began to feel a third of the way through the fifth set that the fates were against him. He couldn't BUY a Hawk-Eye challenge in his favor, while Andy's challenges all seemed to pan out. Then the chair umpire made a very bad overrule that cost Gonzo a point, just as he was trying to moount his final push to get back into the set. A few points later, Gonzo missed a ball that he felt he should have and he destroyed his racquet with one chunk to the court, as only Gonzo can do (he's up there with Marat, for sure). The chair umpire has every right to give a code warning for the racquet abuse, but he abstained. His self-restraint, something Gonzo had obviously lost, was a smart move. There is every reason to believe that had he called Gonzo on smashing his racquet, Gonzo would have gone gonzo, perhaps even sitting down and refusing to play on.

So the chair umpires discretionary judgment, in this case, kept the lid on a pot that was clearly about to boil over, and allowed the match to conclude on its own merits. Line judges, on the other hand, do not have such discretionary authority. They MUST call 'em as they see 'em.

- Slice

So many of these comments come from younger people who do not remember or have knowledge of a game which once was the classiest of all. Mary is absolutely spot on with her comments. It's unfortunate people would think our opposing opinions have anything to do with ethnicity. I cheer for the American not the color. The behavior displayed by Serena was more than a temper tantrum....it was frightening to the linesperson as she truly felt threatened. Let us not forget this is a career...job and she receives a salary just as anyone in another career field or job situation. Can you imagine if an employee or proprietor behaved is this manner not being FIRED?? No one should be above the rules...but then that's Hollywood mentality, isn't it?...we should all be forgiven, but that doesn't mean there are no consequences to our bad behavior. If there are no consequences, we continue on the same path when in fact we need a change of direction.

Years ago when I was playing volleyball, I went to the officials' clinics and got my card to ref league games. The only instruction I remember from that time was to never insert myself into the outcome of a game by making a call toward the end of a match that would decide the outcome.

Yes, people, there is "soft" side to rules of play (perhaps excepting golf).

It was hammmered into us that we should never do what the linesperson did, decide the outcome of a game by a technical call, unless it was egregious. We were not to interupt the "flow of the game."

I would appreciate it if there are any tennis officials on this forum to weigh in. I play a lot of different sports and this is common in officiated games, refs/umps need to keep their ego and power in check because the game is not about them.

@Roger - please watch your personal attacks on people. Many non-english speakers are on these forums. Your snide aside directed at Serena defenders' grammar was borderline racist. Guess what, she might have some fans for whom english is not a 1st language. Or do you believe only americans who can't write like Serena?

I was at the Serena Tirade match, and I was pretty disappointed in the outcome, as I didn't even realize what happened until I arrived home on turned on the TV. Yeah, it was an ugly incident.

But there is a difference between not forgetting something, and dwelling on it.

You don't mention smoking pot and oral sex every time you mention Bill Clinton do you? He is not defined by 1 incident, and neither should Serena.

I completely agree with Mary Carillo. She's one person who actually had the guts to stand up for principle and voiced her opinion without being concerned about what people would think about her. Serena fully deserved to be suspended for what she said. NBA Commissioner David Stern would have handed out a suspension on the spot. He would not have waited 3 months and then handed out a small fine which is like a slap on the wrist for a multi-millionaire like Serena. For all of you who have tried to potray Serena as a victim, I think you lost sight of what's right and what's wrong.

for those who are on carillo's side, most of us are not upset with her opinoin, we are upset that she keeps bringing it back up over and over and over. This subject has been beaten to a pulp and she keeps trying to rehash it. and i love how she professes all this love for the womens game but all she does is nitpick at it. "well venus needs to....and serena shouldve been....and i dont like how dinara. carillo aka the moose lives a miserable life....

AB,

Perhaps your volleyball reffing experience is relevant, I don't know. But I have an older brother and his daughter (my niece) who have both been linespersons at the U.S. Open, as well as at other Challenger tournaments. They both underwent all of the training, etc., and he has confirmed my view that the linesperson's instructionj is to make the call, quickly and audibly (with the appropriate hand gestures) and let the chips fall where they will. (The chair umpire has the discretion to overrule the call, if he or she chooses.) The linesperson may be asked by the chair umpire whether there was a clear line of sight, nothing more. The linesperson is to remain calm and resolute, even and especially when a player gets in his or her face and tries to use timidation.

My brother has a story about being a linesperson at a Jennifer Capriati match during her comeback tour. I believe it was in Mahwah, NJ. At any rate, he made a call, very quickly and with conviction, as instructed, and Capriati lost it, coming over and getting right inhis gface and screaming at the top of her ku ngs at him. He locked eyes with her on that occasion (another no-no) and simply stared as she raged on. Her venting eventually subsided and the match continued.

Before I ask let me note that I think Serena's reaction was abhorrent. But, is there anyone on this forum that is convinced that was actually a foot fault?

agree. Serena should have been suspended if not banned from the US Open indefinately. It's nothing more drastic than if a common citizen had threatened the life of a police officer or something

mary can feel however she wants but as a commentator her job is to watch and describe the match. all the gossip, innuendo, trivia, and moral indignation are all asides. if she has such a problem with how the ITF and the Grand Slam committee handled the situation, then she should voice her objections to them, not the viewing audience. if she can't keep her mouth shut then she should not be a commentator during serena's matches.

Who has made the decision to stop Mary Carillo from commentating on Serena matches? Was it an ESPN decision, or did she decide to take herself off? I know she still does all the other women's matches, but what happened with the Serena thing?

Yup. I think she foot faulted.
She foot faulted earlier in the match, also on second serve.
She foot faulted another couple times in the tournament, and has been known to foot fault throughout her career.
I'm pretty sure she foot faulted. The linesperson had no reason to call it unless she saw it happen.

I am convinced that a foot fault actually occurred. Several times earlier in the match Serena appeared to foot fault to me. The video of the actual call in question did not provide a good angle obviously but at the same time did not show it didn't happen either. I go with the lineperson on this. It would be interesting for some special camera work at a tournament in the future where the feet and the sound of the ball being struck can be superimposed and see how often foot faults actually happen in a match. This would have to be done without the players knowledge and not used in the match itself; just for "research" purposes. Stephan Edberg should have been called far more often than he was. He is my all time favorite mens player.

I also agree with Mary's position about the penalty being light. I don't get the tennis channel or ESPN so if she is over doing it I understand some of the comments. It definitely should be discussed and rehashed at the US Open this year.

Fib, on what basis do you conclude you are sure she foot faulted? The video certainly doesn't show she foot faulted? Is it the fact that she had foot faulted before that you are convinced she did so on this occasion? Because if it is, that would be a bad call, wouldn't it? If line judges started saying, "I think it's probably a foot fault, and since she's foot faulted before, this one is probably a foot fault too" wouldn't that lead to erroraneous calls? Please enlighten me on your evidence.

@Slice-n-dice: thanks for that info re tennis officiating

@ jadel: please do not feed @Roger's dismissive beliefs about Serenafans. Making anti-gay remarks does not strengthen your opinion re Carillo. In fact, homophobic rants do not belong on this forum at all.

@ the rest of you: regarding tirades about Carillo, love her/hate her, Abigail *did* raise the question as has been pointed out. She answered and the overall tone of the interview is casual, like Carillo herself. I do not agree with everything she says, especially her gossipy musings about players' lives outside of tennis. The level of anger toward her person is not in proportion to her level of influence.

I really wish they would ask "Contrary Mary" about the use of performance enhancing drugs and the convenient "retirement" of a player. I believe the game of Women's Tennis is tainted just like MLB. I also believe the Tennis Federation protects the game and the money by advising women to retire for 18 months or so to prevent a public suspension. I'm exempting the Williams Sisters because if there was even a whisper of use by either Venus or Serena...their suspension would be permanetly-no chance for graceful "retirement."

Regarding Carillo...

In my opinion, she is one of the most insightful commentators on tennis who has a way with words. That said, she can get derailed quite easily and often. She has her hobby horses, the current of which is Serena's outburst at the 2009 U.S. Open.

It wasn't long ago that Carillo was always going on and on about the Player Challenge, asserting that they should have unlimited challenges (which, of course, in theory they do, so long as they don't squander their last one by being wrong). And naturally, that nutty idea has been proven to be just that, as we've witnessed all the hullabaloo over how ong certain players take to decide whether to challenge a call, etc. Imagine how slow the game would get if a player could make endless challenges, whether right or wrong? And how about those players who would use it to "game" the system and their opponent, challenging just to throw off the opponent's rhythm and break the flow, or to buy precious recovery time, etc. Well, it seems that Carillo finally "got it" and has shut up about it.

This, too, shall pass.

Lief Shiras and Jimmy Arias make a good team at Tennis Channel. Lief isn't very colorful, but he's a pro and knows when to let the play speak for itself, as does Arias. Jimmy is the more colorful of the two, and is not afraid to call a spade a spade.

EBEB2, you cannot make those accusations without evidence. What evidence do you have to support the claim that performance enhancing drugs are being used in the sport? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking for a basis for the opinion.

abigail, the question you should have asked carillo was why she keeps bringing it up and going on an on about it until our ears bleed? we know how she feels we want to know why she continues with her assault on serena when its over?

The same evidence used in other sports--too much improvement, too fast. Yes, I can...if folks can say a person has "Rage Issues" without previous demonstration of that conduct then I say "drug enhanced" all tournament long.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that looks at many of the Russian or Belgium players and think something is just not kosher. I'm also going to go out on a limb and add Chinese players.

That's curious, EBEB2. That "rage" you speak of is very often associated with the use of performane-enhancing drugs, particularly 'roids.

UNPROVOKED rage, bulking muscles AND acne were once tale-tell signs. Nowadays the chemists are smarter and better mixologists.

My young son and I were witness to Tommy Robredo's outburt at Pilot Pen last summer. Several times in frustration Robredo took his racquet and slammed the fence behind him twice missing the line judge by inches (the line judge was quick to move his head out of the way). Seems to me that act seemed a bit more menacing (and could have caused serious physical harm if Robredo's racquet had connected with the line judge's head). At the very least he should have been called for racquet abuse (maybe fence abuse ;-)) and it was never called.

My son said "Are the players allowed to do that?" Apparently they are...The rules are absolutely different for the men.

BTW, ESPN is getting a lot of mileage out of Serena's outburst.

Finally, I'd like to know how many times foot faults have been called in SFs at grand slams on both the men's and women's sides. I am guessing not much.

IMO the line judge knew she screwed up the call which is why she scurried to the chair in the first place and caused the second more extreme reaction from Serena.

I don't think the line judge "screwed up." I think it was a deliberate and intentional act to mess with Serena. The only thing that seems to piss the commentators and tennis officials off more than seeing Serena in a grand slam final is to have Venus as her opponent.

EBEB2,

Alright then, who has had too much improvement too fast? Do you mean Clijsters and Henin? because if so, I would imagine that you know they were both in the top 10 when they retired (Justine was #1). They didn't just sit around at home eating bonbons while they were retired. They were training. And they are still very fresh, so is it such a stretch that they are doing well? Even Martina Hingis got to the QF of her first major back, although she had no power to speak of. so please explain what you mean.

TennisFan2,

I don't know whether the foot-fault call was corretc, and never will. None of us do, or ever will. So what bI am about to say is in no way intended to justify or indict the line judge's behavior.

She "scurried to the chair [umpire] in the first place" because she had looked at the chair umpire as Serena was berating and threatening here, and the chair umpire then summonsed her over to ask what was being said.

The line judge got up a second time and ran with her tail between her legs for help from the chair umpire and the tournament referee, on his way onto the court, after Serena had decided she hadn't made herself clear enough and had turned around and approached the line judge a second tme. At that point, Referee Brian Earley asked the line judge what Serena had said.

I think it was fairly obvious to all copncerned what Serena was "doing"... but many could not hear what she was saying.

Tennisfan2: yes, I would actually believe this is more ESPN, since general fans don't follow tour events regularly, so the last appearance Serena made in their eyes was the USO.

But really, its old news.

What's the point of "retiring" if you're not going to sit around and eat bon-bons? So I guess this means they were practing against "pro-level players" just waiting for the "penalty clock" to expire so they emerge again. There goes the retirement theory.

I'm waiting for the commentators to dissect Kim Clijsters for her remarks during the interview that she beat herself. Isn't that very, very ingracious or only when it is stated by Serena.

One good option, when watching the Williamses' (and others) play during the majors, is to mute Carrillo, Shriver and Fernandez, and if you can, put on the local tournament radio analysis that is streamed through the web. You get much more balanced, unbiased commentary. I've had the fortune to travel to Melbourne and Paris during their respective majors, and its striking how most of the world (press and spectators) seems to respect and appreciate the Williams sisters more than the American commentators.

Yesterday, while Venus was playing, the commentators elected to use their new technology to show the technical flaws in Venus' serve and forehand, while Venus was, in fact, turning around the match, and we were missing it. To me, Venus gave a clinic in the argument against on-court coaching, as she needed neither her Mom nor the commentators, to right herself.

If Venus or Serena regularly cursed on-court and/or in post-match interviews, as much as some of the men (Roddick, for example), just imagine how it would go over! If Venus and/or Serena only had one major under their belt (like Roddick, for example), its hard to imagine that these commentators could have less respect than they do now.

Slice-n-dice,
thanks for pointing out the "umpire called her over" - I didn't recall that happening, my mistake.

I guess as a Serena fan I am just really frustrated with the whole thing - mostly with Serena for losing it in such a big way but also for all of the inconsistencies (foot fault calls, or lack thereof, male vs. female outbursts, etc...). I am in no way defending Serena's actions - she lost it and should have been penalized (at least a bigger hit to the bank account - at the very least her singles prize money).

As for the retire/unretire issue I think there should be mandatory drug testing. Someone posted on another thread a few days ago that there should be a six month rule and I agree with that. Six months of following all the drug testing and "whereabouts" guidelines active players have to follow.

Finally, I've had enough of Mary and Pam and their anti-Williams comments.

Serena is an example of how one would act if they were on a wrestling team. She is out-classed by the other tennis players and should have been told not to play in any events for one year. If tennis begins allowing people with her urban attitute to continue on without any real consequences, it will only reflect upon tennis as an unclassy game. What is so incredible is that she actually believes she is beautiful. She is, if you value the beauty of a low-land gorilla which speaks in a phony whispery voice.

I personally don't think the commentators have anything personal against Venus or Serena. Having heard them commentate on them before, I actually thought Mary was a little obsessed with them (she constantly used to lament why they were not 1 and 2 in the world). However, since FFGate, they seem to want to exploit it more, and I don't think that has anything to do with their personal choice. I fully believe ESPN told them to exploit it because it brings viewers. After all, the casual fan thinks this is the first time Serena is picking up a racquet since USOpen. Therefore, they want to see how she has reacted to it. And since most casual fans associate Venus with Serena, it behooves ESPN to load them together. 2 for the price of 1.

You can't tell me that trying to hit a lines woman with a tennis ball, one while the game was going and another after he did not win the match is not threating that person and is not violent, all of the other hitting,cursing,yelling, the even other tennis players is some how different

Anne, maybe should go somewhere else with your negativity. It will not be tolerated. I will be forced to remove you from this site. So bring it down.

Anne, what do you mean by "Urban attitude" and "Low-land gorilla speaking in a phony whispery voice"?

"If tennis begins allowing people with her urban attitute to continue on without any real consequences, it will only reflect upon tennis as an unclassy game."

I knew folks with "hidden agendas" would make an entrance. So now the code word is "urban attitute?" What's was the "attitude" of McEnroe? How about folks that pull their pants down on a court? Broken rackets???....all from urban areas???

Anne: If tennis begins allowing people with her urban attitute to continue on without any real consequences, it will only reflect upon tennis as an unclassy game. What is so incredible is that she actually believes she is beautiful. She is, if you value the beauty of a low-land gorilla which speaks in a phony whispery voice.

This statement exemplifies pure class, for sure.

I'm sure you think you're pretty sexy yourself Anne....

Serena got off easy
And as far has you people who think Mary talked too much about it.
1) Somebody had to put the truth out there and sometimes the only way to get through
some peoples thick minds is to go on about it
2)are some of you people watching the games.
it does not matter who is playing, male or female, first round or last round
every commentator talks about Serena in every single game.
personaly I'm sick of Serena. no matter how good she is OR ISN'T the tennis world does not
revolve around Serena .
Good job Mary for pushing the truth through the Serena fan club

I'm glad Mary said this, and again, for those who say she is not a of Serena's for criticizing her is beyond laughable.

So has been a STAUNCH, STAUNCH supporter of both Serena and Venus since they came on the scene.

We all know what Anne is doing...she's Carillorizing the discussion. Since gorillas have a larger brain and can think...something that Anne is incapable of doing...let's place her on ignore.

The William Sisters do it very well and especially when they sit in the owners' box of the Miami Dolphins.

Anne's looks in the mirror as a wild hyenna is reflected back....hated and despised by all animals.

Anne, I'll just say it about you now....you're a racist clown who needs to leave this page.

But that's okay, I know you are angry with how great Serena has become, so look who has the last laugh obviously.

Jerell: respect for, and support for are different. Personally, I believe they respect her accomplishments more than they support her.

To say that Mary Jo is not peeved that the sisters won't play Fed Cup would be overlooking and naive.

Everyone has an angle

All sports have their quirky rules. For instance in football, a linesman will barely "twitch" and get penalized 5 yards. If the Tennis gods do not want to penalize their celebrity players...then they should remove the foot fault from the infractions list.

Mary really needs to let it go and move on. I understand the incident will come up from time to time, but there's no need to discuss it at length any further. Mary seems to be obsessed with the incident. She really needs to focus more on the match she's calling. She really acts as if Serena did a Latrell Spreewell. Goodness, she did not touch that woman, and had no intention on touching her. Any time you have a strong passion for your sport, or in life, in general, there may be times when your emotions go overboard, especially at crucial moments. Serena and Venus have been through plenty of unfair treatment in general since their careers began, and have, for the most part, ignored the rude comments, etc., and carried on like classy young woman. An outburst like this doesn't take away from the good they've done (charity work, etc). Even a person who is normally composed, quiet and low-keyed can snap from time to time...that's human nature. On another note, when certain players constantly catch their ball toss, the commentators crucify them, but when Henin caught her ball toss numerous times the other night, very little was said. Matter of fact, I don't think anything was said. Overall, I think the commentators are pretty bad. The tennis channel commentators are better than Mary and that crew.

The double standard is alive and well, whether its origin lies in racism or sexism. I watched Gonzalez last night kick his water then commit racket abuse, both acts of which were IGNORED by the officials. The commentators thought the officials "exercised great restraint" by not calling Gonzalez on his behavior. Huh???? They should be fired for not doing their jobs. Either racket abuse is an offense or it isn't; it's not up to the discretion of the officials or their ability to exercise restraint. Patrick McEnroe is the biggest hyppocrite (or liar) of all, saying he never such behavior like Serena's. As far as Mary Jo goes, some of us still remember when the camera caught her cheating by coaching Sanchez Vaccario during a match against one of the young Williams' girls. (No penalty).

Wow Anne. I certainly don't know who or what you are, but I can bet you're an unattractive, trifling, ignorant, piece of crap, with extremely low self-esteem, who's constantly rejected. Why would you personally attack a person you've never met and certainly know nothing about, other than what she allows the public to know? Really these sites should review the comments, and not post ignorant ones like yours. Giving your opinion is one thing, and certainly everyone's right, but to attack someone is completely different.

Serena should have been suspended. Whining that 'others have done/said way worse' is (1) false and (2) irrelevant. Even if it were true, it would not go to show that Serena should have been treated more leniently; instead, it would go to show that earlier emotional infants like Illie Nastase, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe should have been suspended too, which they should have been in any case.

So now this post has become about the incident once again. Isn't it supposed to be discussing whether or not it is right for commentators to continue discussing it, and in particular, whether Mary Carillo has a right to take up a personal oath to re-hash this in every match? Why are we still talking about the actual incident?

Me,
I believe that previous foot fault calls show she is prone to foot faulting. And I believe she foot faulted because the lines person said she did. The cameras were not set up to determine whether or not foot faults have occurred the way that hawkeye is set up to verify line calls. The fact that there is no conclusive evidence doesn't vindicate serena. It just shows that they need more cameras on players feet.

Fib,

Exactly. My point is not that Serena should be vindicated, but rather that this episode shows there is need for "reform". I sincerely believe the linesperson used exactly the same logic you did (and I would have used the same logic had I been in that chair). She thought that since Serena had been foot faulting before, she may have this time. And lets face it, you don't UNcall a foot fault. That would get you in real trouble. So perhaps the time has come to insert cameras for review, not so that it makes the calls, but rather so that there is an opportunity for review, as there is with hawk eye or with the net cord beeper. Human judgement alone is prone to historical bias.

anyone lnows a link to watch AO online? thanks xD

BTW Fib, to illustrate my point, think of a situation where a player has been missing the right sideline by a few millimeters consistently, lets say 5 times. The sixth time the ball nicks the line. As a line judge, do you not think you are more likely to call the ball out, believing the player is more likely to hit the ball out. That's how the human brain works, no? And so we sometimes need technology to help this.

I use ESPN 360

....truth be told if Serena was white this wouldn't be such a big deal really. They (she and Venus) already don't get the credit that they should. I see Sharapova win one major and they start saying how great she is.... But I'm sure SW and VW get it.

The thing is Chris, you can never really say that because everyone starts getting really defensive as they are afraid of being called the R word. But really that's not what it is. The truth is people are born with a propensity to understand (and thus accept) certain things more when they are able to subconsciously rationalize them. So when you see a woman with bulging muscles hitting a tennis ball it seems odd, but you are never going to say it's because she has dark brown skin. It just doesn't look right. And no one can be blamed for thinking like this, because ALL humans do it (yes, even dark brown ones).

I am so tired of Mary Carillo speaking about the William sisters. I am tired of her and Mary Jo bringing up the US Open. Pam stated some facts, especially when Mary continued to speak about Roger Goodell (NFL) what Roger would not tolerate. Pam stated that there were to instances wherein some players touched the referee and they were fined maybe about 2K. That sure did shut Mary Jo and Mary Carillo up, they could not say a word. Serena did not touch the lady. Different strokes for different folks. But ESPN enough of Mary Jo and Mary Carillo negative sayings about the William sisters. They have not retired, they have been in the game every year. The sisters should be appreciated not treated like Mary Carillo and Mary Jo treat them. Let us all move on.

Yea but, if anything...Safina is 'bulging muscles', 'odd' and 'manly'. I never hear anyone say anything about her looking hideous... Atleast Serena has womanly curves, and breasts.

That's my point BrooklynNY. Safina is still in the realm of what's conceivable to the mind, therefore she's just a strong fit woman. How many animal references have you heard being attached to her? What about Francesca Schiavone who has the biggest muscles I have seen on a woman in a long time? Or even Mauresmo, who certainly had musculine features? I have never heard animal similies for any of them. But put dark brown skin on them and I guarantee someone will think they are so tenacious like a tiger, or a lion, or even a gazelle.

I agree with Me. Its generally accepted that player challenges came about because of an egregious error against Serena at a previous US Open. I also remember a Wimbledon chair ump giving a point that Venus won in a tie-breaker to her opponent, and never correcting it, although the whole stadium and tv viewers expected the chair to correct herself, and Venus lost the match in that tie-breaker. You have to understand how Serena might feel picked-on by these refs. It will be justice-delayed (again) if the authorities allow a cyclops-type machine to monitor foot faults, or at least allow replay challenges, as a result of what happened to Serena last summer.

By the way, I was rooting for Roddick against Gonzales, but I admit there was some bad officiating that helped Roddick to win. Particularly, when Gonzo returned a Roddick serve with a clean winner, and the linesman called the serve out--after Gonzo's return. Everyone knew that the serve was in, including the chair ump, the players and the linesman (who held his head down, embarrassed). Gonzo had to challenge the call, and he was right. But instead of Gonzo winning the point, Roddick was allowed another first-serve, which Gonzo could not return. Gonzo slapped palms with the linesman (like, "give me five"), and laughed it off. Unfortunately, if Serena tries to play off a bad call in this humorous manner, I think that the linesman will probably take off in another direction.