Serena's Legacy Marred Beyond Repair

Turns out the angel has fangs. Can we ever look at her the same way again? With one malicious, threatening, swaggering, finger-pointing, racket-waving, f-bombing tantrum, Serena Williams took a sword to her legacy and did irretrievable damage. Just when we were starting to project her place in history -- her 11 Grand Slam singles titles, the perseverance of the Williams sisters as they became black champions in a largely white sport -- Serena deflected our eyes from her prominence to her startling petulance.

Such vitriol is going around, of course. Whether it's Kanye West dissing poor Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Awards or Joe Wilson shouting "You Lie!" at Barack Obama on the floor of the House of Representives, America is filled with angry bursts as the first decade of the 21st century ends. But Williams was supposed to be beyond such ill behavior, a credit to her sport and race and country. And when she took a stab at a mea culpa Monday, issuing a third apology after two cheap attempts, even that came across as too little, too late.

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"I'd like to give her a big ole hug and say, 'Let's just put it all behind us like I have and just move on from it,' "Williams said of the linesperson, a Japanese woman whose name has not been released by the U.S. Tennis Association.

Here's a better idea: Tell her yourself, Serena.

Tennis is not baseball. It's a dignified game that allows officials to be questioned but never exposed to hostile words, not that any referee in any sport ever should be. John McEnroe suffered a permanent smudge on his legacy because he acted like a boor on the court, but even he never said he'd like to "kill" a linesman. That is what several witnesses are claiming Williams told the linesperson who, in a women's semifinal at the U.S. Open, dared to call Serena for a foot fault in what would be her fatal final game against eventual champion Kim Clijsters.

Like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, Williams wanted a superstar call. Unlike LeBron or Kobe, she threatened violence when she didn't get it.

"I swear to God, I'm (expletive) going to take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat, you hear that? I swear to God," said Williams to the woman, who reportedly is not doing well and almost fainted after the episode. It's difficult to determine on the TV replay if she used he word "kill," but officials and fans within earshot at Arthur Ashe Stadium said she indeed did. What followed was a hideous scene. The linesperson, visibly disturbed, ran across the court when Williams turned her back and reported the incident to the chair umpire. She returned to her seat, only to hurry back to the chair umpire when Williams pointed and approached her menacingly. As all parties stood at midcourt, Williams continued to talk down to the woman.

"Are you scared? Because I said I would hit you? I'm sorry, but there's a lot of people who've said way worse," Williams said.

The tournament referee, Brian Earley, asked the linesperson what was said. Her response baffled Williams. "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious? Are you serious?" she said. "I didn't say that."

"Yes," the linesperson said.

"Yes, you did," came a voice from the stands.

Rarely have we seen a premier athlete crash and burn so quickly, so shockingly. That her tirade came as she was about to lose the match to Clijsters was more disgraceful; it revealed her as a poor sport and big baby who needed to blame her failure on a line judge when, in truth, Clijsters outplayed Williams in her first major tournament since suffering a wrist injury and then taking a two-year hiatus to have a baby. Serena often has spoken of her responsibility as a role model, and, in this case, the role model should have kept her cool and let the winner have her moment in what is a special human-interest tale. Not since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980 has a woman won a tennis major after giving birth. This should have been all about Kim Clijsters.

"It still seems so surreal," said the plesant Belgian champion. "In my third tournament back, I won my second Grand Slam. It wasn't the plan. I just wanted to come here and get a feel for it all over again, to play a Grand Slam so I could start next year without having all new experiences. It means the world, and I'm just so glad that I'm able to share it with my husband who wasn't here a few years ago, and with my whole group who is here. And also sharing it with our daughter, of course, is the greatest thing ever. Having a family and being an athlete, I think it's possible. ... To win a Grand Slam (as a mother) is obviously a big deal in women's tennis, and the history of women's tennis."

Instead, Williams made it all about her perceived injustice and bruised ego. And rather than apologize immediately after the match Saturday night, she dragged out that process for three days and robbed Clijsters of more attention. Her first comments on the incident showed no remorse. "I didn't threaten," she said. "I don't remember anymore, to be honest. I was in the moment ... I'm trying to move on. I wasn't called for a foot fault all year until I got to New York."

When asked if she regretted her temper spillage, she initially said no. "I try not to live my life saying, `I wish, I wish,' " Williams said. "I was out there and I fought and I tried to do my best."

When told the woman felt threatened, she initially became flip. "She says she felt threatened? She said this to you?" Williams said. "I've never been in a fight my whole life, so I don't know why she felt threatened."

Then, when she tried to apologize, she centered on "the passion I have for my job" and made no mention of Clijsters. Not until her public-relations people coached her did she finally say the right things Monday, making the apology seem hollow at best and disingenuous at worst. "I want to sincerely apologize FIRST to the lineswoman, Kim Clijsters, the USTA and mostly to tennis fans everywhere for my inappropriate outburst," Williams said in a statement. "I'm a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit it when I'm wrong. I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it's not the way to act -- win or lose, good call or bad call in any sport, in any manner."


Later, after winning the Open doubles title with Venus, she addressed the situation at a press conference. "I just really wanted to apologize sincerely, because I'm a very prideful person and I'm a very intense person and a very emotional person," Serena said. "I wanted to offer my sincere apologies to anyone that I may have offended. I think the whole point of learning from your mistakes is not to do the same thing. I definitely would, I think, have a more professional way of voicing my opinion ... I want to get another bad line call so I can get some more practice and see how I do. That would be awesome. OK, this is my one moment here. Yeah, so I probably would even smile."

But did she mean any of it? The evening before, at the same MTV event where West insulted Swift because he thought Beyonce deserved an award, Williams took a wry shot at the commotion over her foot fault and fit. When she introduced the singer Pink, she made mention of her mess in Flushing Meadow. "Because she'll be soaring high above Radio City's stage, she won't have to worry about stepping on any lines," Williams said.

Some laughed. Smart people did not.

I'm surprised that some media are suggesting the entire flap is good for tennis. It's never good for a sport when young people watch a hero implode via abusive behavior. Serena's backers say we'd be giving breaks to male players who've thrown tirades, from McEnroe's screaming rants to Jimmy Connors' wagging finger to Andre Agassi firing a serve at a Wimbledon lineswoman and wondering about her sex life. Did any of them threaten to kill a line judge? They'd have loved to, perhaps, but they never voiced it. And I'm not alone in thinking Williams' damage is done. Many legends agree with the premise, including Martina Navratilova.

There also is the issue of why she mysteriously loses so often in the early rounds of non-majors. How can she win three of four majors before the Open and not win a non-major in that span? Is she tanking? If so, why even show up and rip off ticket-buyers expecting her to play? "Maybe it pays more," she said of the Grand Slam events, flashing a smile. "I guess I'm trying to pay off my mortgage."

For this and other reasons, a lot of tennis insiders think she's a colossal fraud -- and that her Open behavior is further evidence. What a shame. Here we have one of the greatest female players ever, and yet every time she's in position to prove it, something bad happens. She says she'll march on.

"I'm happy where I'm at," said Williams, who turns 28 later this month. "I feel like I have several hundred more years to play."

Through it all, she'll carry a perpetual weight. And I don't mean her world-famous butt, either.