Wow.
Craziness at the women's semifinal's tonight. First, thanks to it drizzling on and off all day, it didn't start until 9:30 or so - CBS played half an episode of Numb3rs at 9 instead of forcing their commentators to come up with more stuff to talk about on-air. Then things got interesting.
First, they didn't even show the semifinal playing simultaneously on Louis Armstrong Court, even though it ended after the Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters match on Arthur Ashe Court. Caroline Wozniacki defeated Yanina Wickmayer in two sets. I would have at least liked to see a little of that match, CBS. *shakes fist* Oh, well, maybe someone will show the re-run tomorrow. But CBS had a pretty good reason not to switch to that match, as you'll see below.
The interesting match was Serena vs. Kim, though. For one, although Serena wasn't playing her absolute best, the real story was that Kim Clijsters, although only in her (I think) third tournament since coming back to tennis from having a baby, was kicking ass tonight. Just really playing well. She took the first set (after which Serena destroyed her racquet, earning herself a code violation), and then it was 6-5 in the second set with Serena serving. At I believe 15-30, the linesperson called a foot fault (where the player's foot crosses the line as they're serving), which cost Serena a point, making the score 15-40. I did not see the fault, nor am I qualified to determine whether there was one even if I could have seen clearly. That wasn't the big deal. The big deal was when Serena got another tennis ball, and then turned around and proceeded to curse out the linesperson, waving the ball at her in a threatening manner. The linesperson reported this to the referee, after which Serena cursed at her once again. The linesperson went back to confer with the referee, the head referee and one other person, with Serena attempting to defend herself. Well, the upshot is that the abuse of an official was her second code violation, which caused her to lose another point to Kim, and thus the match.
*facepalm* I really, really would have preferred for Kim to win the normal way, as it looked very much like she was about to. Now the story will be all about Serena's behavior, not Kim's amazing comeback.
Needless to say, everyone's mouths were basically hanging open. Good grief.
YouTube video here.
ETA - Note to self: reading the comments at ONTD about this is a really bad thing for one's blood pressure. Remember this for the future. Sheez.
First, they didn't even show the semifinal playing simultaneously on Louis Armstrong Court, even though it ended after the Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters match on Arthur Ashe Court. Caroline Wozniacki defeated Yanina Wickmayer in two sets. I would have at least liked to see a little of that match, CBS. *shakes fist* Oh, well, maybe someone will show the re-run tomorrow. But CBS had a pretty good reason not to switch to that match, as you'll see below.
The interesting match was Serena vs. Kim, though. For one, although Serena wasn't playing her absolute best, the real story was that Kim Clijsters, although only in her (I think) third tournament since coming back to tennis from having a baby, was kicking ass tonight. Just really playing well. She took the first set (after which Serena destroyed her racquet, earning herself a code violation), and then it was 6-5 in the second set with Serena serving. At I believe 15-30, the linesperson called a foot fault (where the player's foot crosses the line as they're serving), which cost Serena a point, making the score 15-40. I did not see the fault, nor am I qualified to determine whether there was one even if I could have seen clearly. That wasn't the big deal. The big deal was when Serena got another tennis ball, and then turned around and proceeded to curse out the linesperson, waving the ball at her in a threatening manner. The linesperson reported this to the referee, after which Serena cursed at her once again. The linesperson went back to confer with the referee, the head referee and one other person, with Serena attempting to defend herself. Well, the upshot is that the abuse of an official was her second code violation, which caused her to lose another point to Kim, and thus the match.
*facepalm* I really, really would have preferred for Kim to win the normal way, as it looked very much like she was about to. Now the story will be all about Serena's behavior, not Kim's amazing comeback.
Needless to say, everyone's mouths were basically hanging open. Good grief.
YouTube video here.
ETA - Note to self: reading the comments at ONTD about this is a really bad thing for one's blood pressure. Remember this for the future. Sheez.