Venus Williams Wimbledon Controversy
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James Joyner | Thursday, June 24, 2004 |
AP — Venus Williams upset in second round
Chair umpire Ted Watts incorrectly called the score as 2-2 in the second-set tiebreaker, giving Sprem a point when instead she should have been taking a second serve. Both players appeared confused, but neither disputed the call. Tournament referee Alan Mills confirmed the umpire made a mistake but said the result would stand.***
Williams, who won Wimbledon in 2000 and 2001 and lost in the last two finals to her sister, Serena, didn’t blame the scoring error for her defeat. She had plenty of chances to force a third set, but blew three set points and lost the last five points. “I don’t think one call makes a match,” she said.
Wow. That’s a class attitude to take, considering the circumstances. A tie-breaker point is much more important than a point in a game in the middle of a set.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Pretty classy attitude indeed. Somewhat surprising, too, in the sense that the Williams sisters have made questionable statements about race in the past.
Class act is right. This lady is growing up. Wait until we hear from her father, however. I think that many of the "questionable statements" have been due to, or at least heavily influenced by, his attitudes. I suspect that we will hear about race somehow being a factor there, but apparently we are not going to hear it from Venus.
Being a tennis veteran I can say one point in a tie-breaker is huge, and to see this famous, outspoken women handle this the way it did is absolutly mezmorizing, I think she handled it like a big girl, and I can't wait to see the racial crap her Dad comes up with.
If we had a device to measure the level of applause the people watching the match gave to each player on winning a point, the result would be very interesting. It was obvious the crowd wanted venus to loose. Oh, but that's because she's American, right?
i really want to say u guys re doing a nice job and will really like to know the mail address of the williams sisters. thanks
i really want to say u guys re doing a nice job and will really like to know the mail address of the williams sisters. thanks
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