Serena Williams fined for her US Open tirade at line judge
New York: American tennis star Serena Williams has been fined 175,000 dollars for her ugly tirade at a line judge at Flushing Meadows, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has announced. The ITF said that any further offence at
a grand slam in the next two years would see her suspended from the US Open in
2010, 2011, or 2012. The fine will be reduced to 82,500 dollars if she commits
no further major offence until 2011, The Telegraph reported. Williams had lost
her cool after being foot-faulted during her US Open semi-final defeat by Kim
Clijsters. She unleashed a tirade on the line judge, briefly walked away and then
returned for another blast at the line judge. The incident saw her receiving a
point penalty for a second code violation, thus handing the semi-final match to
Clijsters 6-4, 7-5. Williams was unrepentant about the incident even during her
post-match press conference as well, where she claimed that she did not remember
what she had said to the line judge. Williams was initially fined 10,000 dollars
by the US Open organisers for her outburst.
