There have been moments of grand examples of sportsmanship in tennis matches this season. Saturday match involving Serena Williams was not one of them.
During her third-round match of the French Open against former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, Williams was trying to fight back from a one-set deficit. Williams led 5-4 in the second set and scored the first three points on Azarenka's serve to earn three break-point chances.
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Azarenka saved them all, but Williams then won the next point to set up another break point and the controversy. Williams hit a return of serve that set up Azarenka for a forehand cross-court shot that hit the baseline.
Williams hit the ball into the net but immediately motioned to a line judge to indicate she thought the ball was out. The line judge then made a late call that the ball was out. The chair umpire got down and saw the spot and overruled the line judge.
But instead of giving Azarenka the point, which would have sent the game back to deuce, the umpire ruled that the point be played over.
A furious Azarenka argued with the umpire and then had an exchange with Williams before waving off Williams and turning her back. The commentators said as soon as Azarenka realized she wasn't going to get the call from the umpire that she looked toward Serena to concede the point.
NBC tennis analyst John McEnroe called the umpire's ruling to replay the point a "dubious decision" because the "out" call came after Williams hit the ball into the net. It would stand to reason that Williams should have hit the ball over the net and then made her protest.
The call became important Williams crushed tow forehands to win the next point and the set. Azarenka received a warning for blurting out an obscenity.
Poor sportsmanship? Not according to Williams. After the match, Williams shrugged off the controversial call.
"It's always up to the umpire," Williams said, acknowledging that the call from the linesman had come late. "He didn't put his arm out until like five minutes later. But yeah, I mean this is tennis. This happens all the time. I even said: 'No, don't worry. The ball is in. We'll just replay the point.' "
According to the New York Times, Azarenka had a different post-match interpretation.
"Asked later if she thought she was 'robbed' of the point that was replayed, Azarenka used another obscenity to describe the ruling. 'And everybody knows it,' she said. 'But it's part of the game. Sometimes it happens this way, but I think it wasn't a fair call.'
Azarenka added that the mistake was the umpire's and not up to Williams to correct it.
"It's emotions. You know, during the match it's difficult to react or not react in that moment," Azarenka said. "So I think that in that moment, I don't know if it depended too much on her. You can always give your opinion, but in the end, it was the chair umpire's call. So that was his mistake."
The Times added that Azarenka said she would've handled the situation differently, but held no grudge. In fact, she gave Williams a pair of her shorts that Williams said she liked.
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