I was very disappointed when I saw the interview with Serena on the USA network after her loss to Henin. Here is an article by Greg Garber of ESPN.
Sullen Serena sent packing by Henin … again
By Greg Garber
ESPN.com
Updated: September 5, 2007, 1:25 PM ET
NEW YORK — When you look past the barriers of language, style, size and shape, Serena Williams and Justine Henin aren’t really all that different.
They both have been on the planet for a quarter-century and known the exquisite thrill of being the world’s No. 1-ranked player. They have won more millions than they can count and collected 14 Grand Slam singles titles between them, with Williams holding an 8-6 edge. Before Tuesday night’s U.S. Open quarterfinal match, they had met 11 times, and Williams’ modest margin was 6-5.
And, beyond the numbers, they have a history. Their misunderstandings of the past have been set aside, and today there seems to be a deep and abiding mutual respect. Not that they don’t like to beat each other. To the contrary, they seem to savor it more than almost anything.
On Tuesday, they collided again, and Henin, not surprisingly, was the emphatic winner, 7-6 (3), 6-1. The Belgian now has sent Williams home from the past three Grand Slams.
Henin will play the winner of Wednesday night’s match between Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic in a Friday semifinal.
After her loss Tuesday, in a halting, four-minute interview, Williams was as sullen as she has ever been in public. She said she would have skipped the mandatory session with the press but didn’t want to pay the possible $10,000 fine.
It would have been money well spent. More than anything, Williams was an exceptionally sore loser, perhaps a window to her consistently vast expectations versus the reality of her current situation.
“I really don’t feel like talking about it,” Williams said. “I can’t explain that [result] right now.
“I just think she made a lot of lucky shots, and I made a lot of errors.”
Clearly, she was deeply disappointed, perhaps even demoralized.
“No,” she said sarcastically. “I’m very happy.”
Click here to read the full article.
I was disappointed as well with her results and attitude after her loss. Very poor sportsmanship, and not the first time.
Someone needs to teach her to win with grace and lose with dignity. She’s not much of a graceful winner and she’s a horrible loser.
Looks like Serena is a student of Veselin Topalov.
Come on. She has the right to be disappointed! As far as I know, she has not insulted anyone.
When I read the strea of filth that chess fans continuously pour on chess forums when insulting the players whose style they don’t like, I think it is very tough to blame her for poor sportsmanship.
I always lose with dignity these days. It’s not that hard to learn as long as the opportunity arises often enough…
big deal…
idea is not wanting to lose…
we can’t all be shoe horned into the same prim & proper mould…
some are like Borg (who I admire) others are like McEnroe…he complains when he thinks he’s been wronged, yet walks quickly to next point when he’s got a freebie / benefitted from an incorrect line call (Roland Garros versus Lendl)
that Henin incident at Roland Garros was worse tahn this interview…
read an old blog someone sent in to the effect:
“I don’t see any connection between Susan and Radjabov. It is incorrect always to compare everybody to oneself. Susan continued playing, because she saw some pluses in continuing. Radjabov was so stressed out, he chose to quit. Susan cannot and should not try to impose herself as a role model for all to follow. Radjabov’s decision needs to be considered without any unflattering comparisons.
If Radjabov was so rattled that he feared for his safety and lost sleep, he was right to quit. Susan’s idea that fans and organizers come first is not universally accepted. Obviously, many players think that winning games should come first.
This is a great blog, but it does suffer from extreme self-righteousness.”
ciao
Will see soon how Kramnik loses his title with dignity.Hehehe.
GO Vishy !!
Kkramnik has consistently outclassed you so far, what makes you think that’ll change when he loses?
>>Come on. She has the right to be disappointed!>>
I didn’t see anyone say she didn’t. Don’t you realize you could be arrested for cruelty to straw men?
>>When I read the strea of filth that chess fans continuously pour on chess forums when insulting the players whose style they don’t like, I think it is very tough to blame her for poor sportsmanship.>>
Or even the people who rebut positions that nobody has taken.
Kind of a lame argument, don’t you think? “She’s better than an internet troll, so she must be okay.”
>>I think it is very tough to blame her for poor sportsmanship.>>
Only if you’re a person who pours out streams of filth on internet sites. For those of us who don’t, what’s so hard about it?
She has the right to be a poor sport, we have the right to call her a poor sport. What’s so hard to understand?
I am not pious enough to condemn Serena Williams.
I know what it’s like to win – fantastic – and I know what it’s like to lose when you should have won. I feel physically sick for a good while.
I guess Serena felt similarly gutted: that’s what makes a winner. She’s human, and she ‘has a life’.
‘Losing with Dignity’ involves honoring the superiority of your opponent. How many of your own losses are included in your chess books?
I’m sure that Serena has deep seeded animosity against Henin for her and the French public displaying unsportsman like conduct at the French Open a few years back. If you recall, the pro Henin French spectators viciously booed Serena after Henin cheated her. Since then Serena gives Justine credit for nothing. I think that resentment gets in the way of Serena playing her best game against her and being a gracious loser. The interview was funny because it made her look bad. I’m sure that after watching it and the commentary afterwards she will have to be more humble. Losing to Henin is probably like a knife in the gut to her more so than to anyone else. She needs to get her fitness back and run down more balls like she used to. To me, that’s where her game faltered last night.
“I am not pious enough to condemn Serena Williams.”
LOL! Yeah, you’re worse than that. You’re pious enough to condemn people who don’t like poor sportsmanship.
get real all you haters. serena has a right to be upset. who likes to lose unless your so used to losing because your a terrible player that you accept losing. i think serena wasnt bad at all. she didnt say anything real nasty. ill tell you if i lost there would be chairs thrown and worse comments. as if most of the people wouldnt have done the same. this is coming from a society that is indifferent to peoples problems and all about greed and dishonesty. what a bunch of hypocrites. clean your own backyards before blasting a cool person like serena. if it was a white female doing what serena did nothing would be said about it. but because the media potrays black females as ghetto mamas with attitudes even the slightest thing they say that isnt nice gets blasted.
A wise quote I roughly remember having read somewhere (maybe in another language) but I forgot from whom it is:
“Good losers should be disqualified.”
🙂
It’s good to see from the comments, that many people can tolerate it if somebody is “not so happy” after a loss.
Sometimes more emotions are involved, sometimes less. It certainly depends on against whom you lose too, and on the specific circumstances. Tennis has similarities to chess, being a head-to-head sport of two players who fight against each other.
Also, among other popular definitions, chess is martial art of the mind. The opponent’s disadvantage is your gain, his defeat is your victory. That is why chess isn’t something entirely bright and positive. It has it’s dark sides. The “bad loser” aspect is one symptom of that. Losing with dignity will sometimes mean to hide your true emotions.
Tennis is a wonderful running sport with a lot of issues and problems. I stopped watching it after hearing rumors that some matches are fixed.
“I stopped watching it after hearing rumors that some matches are fixed.”
huh?? SOME matches are fixed in each and every sport that includes matches of any kind.
Anon 4.32: spot on. This blog is good on chess analysis and there are some insights and good pics sometimes.
However, it needs to lighten up. We are all different and have different, perfectly reasonable views on things.
To quote from the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s rendition of the Bible:
God: “What are you doing, Abraham”
Abraham: “I am killing my first born, Lord.”
God: “I was joking, Abraham. Get a life!”
“huh??”
I had thought for tens of years that tennis was the perfect game, with no fixes. Then I became sad. I still can’t believe it.
there’s even something ten thousand times worse than that … after the rolland final when she lost against henin, she said that the french public was RACIST … a 1 000 000 000 bill and her jewlery as a fine should be the price to pay for this kind of attitude …
Agree that you should lose with dignity and give credit to your opponent. This was a sound beating as well, it wasn’t just won by the odd point.
I do have to say, however, that the media have become a bit too pushy. It would be ok to ask a person their opinions on a loss a little time after the event buit they really do rub it in a bit sometimes:
“So tell me Ms X you lost this game fairly badly?”
“Yes I’m very disappointed, I should have played better”
“But Ms X you really had your ass handed to you out there!”
“As I said I’ll need to work hard on my game for the next match”
“Any thoughts of retirement?”
It almost as if the media are trying to get a bad reaction in order to give them a story.
Rugby World Cup starts today so I off to watch the box.
right. All the winners were just “lucky shots”… you’d expect this from a teenager or a chess forum poster but nor from a tennis champion. Truly dissapointing.
All I know is that booty is poppin’!!