Serena Williams is undeniably the greatest woman tennis player of all-time. Her stellar career, however, is marred with outbursts, tantrums, dramas, and an overall attitude that the spectators either take in or ignore.
Who can forget her explosive retorts against umpire Carlos Ramos in the 2018 US Open?
These are the moments that both Serena, despite having no complete control over a situation, and her fans would rather forget.
The Moments That Took the Tennis World by Surprise
2009 US Open
One time when Serena got confrontational was during the 2009 US Open semi-finals match against Kim Clijsters. The reason was the lineswoman, Shino Tsurubuchi who foot faulted her.
She contested the decision and argued with the official, launching a tirade of abuse against her. Serena even smashed her racquet during the moment, which turned off a lot of fans.
It resulted in an $82,500 fine plus $500 for smashing the tennis equipment. Serena also received a suspended ban, two-year probation.
2011 Wimbledon
This could be the darkest moment in Serena’s career with her less-than-enigmatic performance at the 2011 Wimbledon.
In the fourth round, she lost the game to Marion Bartoli. It was her earliest exit in a competition.
What’s worse, Serena plummeted to rank #175. It was her lowest world ranking.
2012-13 season
If there’s one word that can sum up that season, it was injury-plagued. Serena suffered from an injury after an injury.
Successive ankle injuries affected her game while in Australia. She missed several matches then.
At one point, she suffered from a pulmonary embolism. A blood clot was discovered in her lungs, and she underwent emergency surgery. She got over it and recovered completely.
2012 London Olympics
Other than the fact that she defeated one of her supposed rivals, Maria Sharapova, it was the crip walk dance that everyone got talking. She danced as a part of her impromptu celebration without giving much thought about the dance itself.
The crip walk is associated with some of the bloodiest gang-related violence in the United States. Seeing Serena doing it after the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics was tactless.
2014 Wimbledon
Serena was forced to stop the match because of a viral illness. She was not even able to toss the ball properly due to dizziness.
No one antagonises Serena for what had happened because even the most physically fit can get sick if not for her sister, Venus. They were doing a doubles match at that time and stopping would mean ruining her sister’s chance of progressing further in the competition.
Venus, the ever-doting sister that she is, on the other hand, was seen calmly consoling Serena.
2015 US Open
During a post-match press conference where she defeated her sister, Serena unwillingly answered questions from the members of the press.
A reporter asked her, “Why aren’t you smiling?” A stroppy Serena retorted by saying she was so tired and did not want to be in front of these people to answer dumb questions from stupid reporters.
She said something like that, and it didn’t sit well with a room full of reporters and media personalities.
