In the first set of her third round match at the French Open Serena Williams volleyed a ball back to a charging Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The ball ricocheted back to Serena's side of the court past Williams. The point was awarded to Sanchez but Williams had a gripe. She felt that the ball hit off Sanchez's arm and not her racket which would have resulted in an automatic point for Serena. Upon review of the replay the ball did indeed bounce off of Sanchez's arm. Winning the set Sanchez did not report the ball hitting off her arm. However Serena came back to win the match and move on.
For most people this would be vindication enough but not for Serena. She, for some reason, felt the need to further attack her opponent in the post-match press conference. The topic of the aforementioned volley came up and Serena went off. She accused her opponent of cheating and being unsportsmanlike. First of all she does have a point that her opponent should have said something. However true that may be she did not need drag her opponent through the mud. Williams would have looked much bigger had she not went on a small tirade about how her opponent cheated. The reason for this is that she ended up winning the match. Not only did Serena win the match but the set in which this volley happened was the first set. Granted Sanchez won that set, but it did not factor into the match as Williams won the next two sets.
Serena went out of her way to attack another player that probably did not deserve it. Even after winning the match and advancing to the next round, Serena seemed irate that she was so unjustly treated in that one game. It was not even like the officiating was horrific and Serena was using this isolated incident to embody the officiating. No. She was genuinely angry that she lost the set even though she won the match. Congratulations Serena you made yourself look like a whinny teenager.
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