THE American media turned on Serena Williams yesterday, labelling the former world No 1 as "classless" and "graceless" after her sullen reaction to her US Open exit at the hands of Justine Henin.
Top seed Henin beat the American 7-6, 6-1 in the quarter-finals for the third consecutive grand-slam event late on Tuesday, but a despondent Williams gave the Belgian scant praise. Asked if she could explain what went wrong, Williams replied: "No, I
can't. I'm sorry. Any more questions?"
Players who fail to appear for post-match news conferences face fines from officials, and she added: "I just think she made a lot of lucky shots and I made a lot of errors. I really don't feel like talking about it. It's like I don't want to get fined. That's the only reason I came. I can't afford to pay the fines because I keep losing."
Williams' words and manner were greeted with widespread disdain. "[Williams] met the media afterward like a rattlesnake meets a ground squirrel," wrote Bill Dwyre, in the Los Angeles Times. "If anybody was expecting perspective afterward, or maybe a gracious nod to a better effort by an opponent, forget it. We had sullen Serena. Snippy Serena. Snarly Serena."
In the New York Times, under the headline, "Williams needs a lesson in etiquette", Selena Roberts wrote: "Who's classless now?
"The grumpy, borderline nasty disposition that Williams displayed after her loss was a little jarring considering she had her own lack of preparation to blame for giving in so easily to Henin.
"Serena was bitter, angry and upset. She directed some of that at Henin. Who could use charm school now?"
In an interview with USA Network, which hosts television coverage of the US Open, John Wertheim, the senior writer for Sports Illustrated magazine, described Serena's reaction as "stunning". "There's a lot to admire about Serena," he wrote, "but this happens again and again where we just have these completely graceless post-match [news conferences]. Lucky shots? I think she means winners."
Onthebaseline.com, which specialises in women's tennis news, said Williams should probably have skipped the news conference. "Serena's public relations department would have done better to pay the fine themselves than to allow their charge to disgrace herself as she did last night," it said.
Henin was far better at the net, winning 11 of 14 points when she pressed forward, while Williams was only 5-for-14. Mostly, though, the difference was Henin's ability to steer Williams this way and that along the baseline until the Belgian could find an opening for her smooth backhand or a well-placed forehand. Repeatedly, especially in the second set, Henin wrong-footed Williams to end a point.
Williams may have called it luck, but domination would have been a more accurate description for Henin's aggressive play. "I've been aggressive like the number one player in the world, just trying to dictate points," said Henin. "I played unbelievable tennis from the tie-break until the end. I'm very happy to beat her here in such a great atmosphere. It means a lot to me."
Anna Chakvetadze reached her first grand slam semi-final when she took the last six games yesterday to beat Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-1. The sixth-seeded Chakvetadze had never been as far as a major quarter-final until this year, when she lost at that stage at the Australian Open and French Open. But from 4-4 in the first set, the Russian took control against the No 18 Peer, the first woman from Israel to play in the US Open quarter-finals.
"I just started to play more aggressive," said Chakvetadze, who now faces Svetlana Kuznetsova after she enjoyed a 6-1, 6-4 success over Agnes Szavy.
