But an umpire doesn’t have to hold a personal grudge against a player for his calls to be tainted by racism or sexism.  He doesn’t have to be a sociopath to be influenced by his feelings and make a ticky tack call.  We’ve all had those games where we’re feeling sensitive and nervy and maybe called something that we…

yeah, that’s basically what I believe, just not what I chose to focus on here.

Almost there. Take the final leap and realize that the USTA/ITF/WTP/etc are the real problem for not enforcing a consistent rules culture from the beginning.

Indeed. I have never seen LeBron James vociferously argue a call. 

Washed down with a pickle fresh from the jar.

Standing in front of the opened fridge. Follow by a blast of aerosol whipped cream.

I don’t know what to tell you man. Sometimes you have a bag of meat and you just want to eat it.

It’s like if your Tinder date started talking about his pet ferrets right off the bat.

I may not have hit the nail on the head with my word choice here, I’ll admit, but I don’t think the article is balanced, it’s a puff job of Serena.  She lost 6-2, 6-4, and this controversy happened in the second set.  Wouldn’t it be more fair to say that Serena wasn’t feeling it today, wasn’t having her best match,…

Can we please stop with the Serena worship? She’s a titan of tennis, a superb athlete, but she’s not without flaws, without her faults. She’s petulant, and this isn’t the first or worst instance of abusing an official in her career.

The ref seemed out of line (based on my admittedly limited tennis knowledge) but Serena handled it poorly as well. I’d hope that Serena would make a statement supporting Osaka and saying that no matter what happened between her and the ref that Osaka deserves praise for her win.

I felt so bad for her I was crying. Just like you said, imagine having your childhood dream come true and this shit hanging over it. Forever. I have total faith she'll go on to have a monster career, and I hope she'll be able to put this behind her.

I don’t think you need to worry about that.

God, that was some bullshit. Everybody lost: Serena, the public, and especially Naomi, who turned in a world-class performance but now will always have an asterisk accompany any mention of this victory. It was an all-around bummer. What a weird moment to enforce the coaching restriction, topped by that overkill game…

I wouldn’t call a fantastic match that no one got to see because it ended at 2AM Eastern as working great as is.

lol i noticed him slip that in there too

My proposal: one set, but with one of these giant novelty balls:

This is such a good burn.

The name is fine and the logo is incredible. The only thing I find hilarious about all this is the gatekeeping of “European culture and tradition” from those who have probably never even stepped foot in Europe.

Told you!