Serena Williams - ALWAYS classy in defeat

[poindexter]

Said Williams today, after a loss to Virginie Razzano, whose husband/coach died shortly before last year's French Open: "I know of her story and her husband. We all have stories. I mean, I almost died, and Venus is struggling herself. So, you know, it's life. You know, it just depends on how you deal with it. She obviously is dealing with it really well."

She never fails to be classy in the pressers. Never change, Serena.

 

[Ace]

OTOH, I would rather have an athlete sound bitchy and dismissive after a loss than bland and phony.

 

[YGBFKM]

That's not the point.

 

[Ace]

That's not the point.

Sure it is. Bitchy quotes are good for business.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I would pay money for a video compilation of Serena's greatest hits, but nothing will ever top the death wish/ball-stuff-down-throat of the line judge.

She's almost Barkley-like to me. I'm not talking about her weight, I'm talking about the fact that she can get away with saying stuff nobody else could.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I would pay money for a video compilation of Serena's greatest hits, but nothing will ever top the death wish/ball-stuff-down-throat of the line judge.

She's almost Barkley-like to me. I'm not talking about her weight, I'm talking about the fact that she can get away with saying stuff nobody else could.

Barkley is likable. Serena is a *****.

 

[imjustagirl]

Said Williams today, after a loss to Virginie Razzano, whose husband/coach shortly before last year's French Open: "I know of her story and her husband. We all have stories. I mean, I almost died, and Venus is struggling herself. So, you know, it's life. You know, it just depends on how you deal with it. She obviously is dealing with it really well."

She never fails to be classy in the pressers. Never change, Serena.

I don't know the backstory, and I really don't care enough to google it, but her husband/coach WHAT shortly before last year's French Open?

 

[poindexter]

Died.

My bad.

 

[Quakes]

OK, I'll be that guy. Without knowing the question that was asked to her, and without being able to read body language or hear inflection, what's so bad about what Serena said? It looks like she was complimentary towards Razzano. What more did you want her to say?

 

[armageddon]

OK, I'll be that guy. Without knowing the question that was asked to her, and without being able to read body language or hear inflection, what's so bad about what Serena said? It looks like she was complimentary towards Razzano. What more did you want her to say?

My suggestion: If you're going to answer such a question sincerely perhaps it would be best to avoid turning the answer into a recap of YOUR life and YOUR ills.

But now that I think of it, that sort of response IS sincere for Serena.

 

[BTExpress]

I would be interested in hearing what the actual question was and how it came up in the first place.

It was more than a year ago. I can definitely understand Razzano being asked about it, but what exactly did they ask Serena?

 

[Quakes]

Well, I still don't know what the question was. (The New York Times says she was "asked about Razzano and her backstory." That's as much as I can find with some quick Googling.) But I don't think her answer was a recap of her life. I read it as Serena saying, basically, "Life is hard; bad stuff happens to all of us. What's important is how you respond. And Razzano has responded well." Is it so offensive that she referred to her and her sister's (not insignificant) health problems -- a pulmonary embolism and a rare auto-immune disease, respectively -- in the course of her answer?

 

[zagoshe]

Wow, an unbelievably successful, star athlete, one who, for a large portion of her career was considered the best in the world at her sport, is bad at losing and not very gracious once she does.

Shocking. ::)

 

[93Devil]

I would pay money for a video compilation of Serena's greatest hits, but nothing will ever top the death wish/ball-stuff-down-throat of the line judge.

She's almost Barkley-like to me. I'm not talking about her weight, I'm talking about the fact that she can get away with saying stuff nobody else could.

Barkley is likable. Serena is a *****.

A ***** on steroids.

 

[armageddon]

Well, I still don't know what the question was. (The New York Times says she was "asked about Razzano and her backstory." That's as much as I can find with some quick Googling.) But I don't think her answer was a recap of her life. I read it as Serena saying, basically, "Life is hard; bad stuff happens to all of us. What's important is how you respond. And Razzano has responded well." Is it so offensive that she referred to her and her sister's (not insignificant) health problems -- a pulmonary embolism and a rare auto-immune disease, respectively -- in the course of her answer?

Two things:

First, I didn't see/hear the interview so I don't have all available info and will tread lightly.

Second, I never wrote I was offended by her long-winded, "we all have woes" answer. Just pointed out what not to do.

Nevertheless, if I'm facing a foe who is playing in what is her national championship, one year after she lost her fiancee/coach, and she rallies to beat me in dramatic fashion (down a set and down 5-1 in the tiebreak) and everyone is talking about her tragic loss of a year ago and how she is trying to piece her life back together the absolute last thing I would do is start talking about ME and MY life.

I'd talk about how she played on the court and how people might follow her example if they're dealing with adversity/tragedy. I wouldn't say: Yea, she's toughing it out but let me remind you all about the **** I've faced in my life.

Not offended. Merely noting her response smacks of selfishness or perhaps just being oblivious about the moment.

 

[Quakes]

I didn't necessarily mean that you were offended, armageddon. But obviously some people who've posted in this thread were. (And by offended, I don't mean that they were personally hurt by Serena's answer -- just that it offended their senses of manners or decorum or sportsmanship or something.) Anyway, I think you're bending over backwards to see something you want to see if you think her answer was meant to say, "Never mind her problems. Here are all of mine."

If I'm widely acclaimed as the best player in the world, and the favorite in this tournament; and I've just lost a first-round match in a Grand Slam event for the first time; and I blew the match after being two points away from a straight-sets victory; and I'm over 30, and it's been almost two years since I last won a Grand Slam tournament; and I've spent much of those two years battling health problems, well, then, maybe I'm not concerned so much about my opponent's problems in the minutes after the match. And even with all of that said, she managed to acknowledge what happened to Razzano and compliment her. Was it an absolutely selfless answer? No. Surely a PR professional could script something better. But it was a long way from bitchy or selfish.

 

[armageddon]

I didn't necessarily mean that you were offended, armageddon. But obviously some people who've posted in this thread were. (And by offended, I don't mean that they were personally hurt by Serena's answer -- just that it offended their senses of manners or decorum or sportsmanship or something.) Anyway, I think you're bending over backwards to see something you want to see if you think her answer was meant to say, "Never mind her problems. Here are all of mine."

If I'm widely acclaimed as the best player in the world, and the favorite in this tournament; and I've just lost a first-round match in a Grand Slam event for the first time; and I blew the match after being two points away from a straight-sets victory; and I'm over 30, and it's been almost two years since I last won a Grand Slam tournament; and I've spent much of those two years battling health problems, well, then, maybe I'm not concerned so much about my opponent's problems in the minutes after the match. And even with all of that said, she managed to acknowledge what happened to Razzano and compliment her. Was it an absolutely selfless answer? No. Surely a PR professional could script something better. But it was a long way from bitchy or selfish.

Reporter to Armageddon, a future hall of fame closer who just gave up a game-winning grand slam to a pinch-hitter who was a year removed from losing his wife on the eve of the playoffs and was playing in the playoffs for the first time since...

Arm, what do you think about Joe Smith's personal situation and the hit he had today?

"Yea, the dude had a tough year. But we've all got life issues to deal with. I've had multiple surgeries on my arm. My brother got sent down to the minors and he's not happy. It's life. It's all about how you deal with it. But, yea, now that you mentioned it, Smith seems to be handling it well."

If I fielded a question about my competitor and I shone most of the spotlight on me I would hope someone would slap me silly and point out how selfish I sounded/appeared.

And I'd hope my response would be: Damn, you're right.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

People die every day.

 

[slappy4428]

I would pay money for a video compilation of Serena's greatest hits, but nothing will ever top the death wish/ball-stuff-down-throat of the line judge.

She's almost Barkley-like to me. I'm not talking about her weight, I'm talking about the fact that she can get away with saying stuff nobody else could.

Barkley is likable. Serena is a *****.

Win 20 games in The Show and you're colorful...

 

[jr/shotglass]

OK, I'll be that guy. Without knowing the question that was asked to her, and without being able to read body language or hear inflection, what's so bad about what Serena said? It looks like she was complimentary towards Razzano. What more did you want her to say?

My suggestion: If you're going to answer such a question sincerely perhaps it would be best to avoid turning the answer into a recap of YOUR life and YOUR ills.

But now that I think of it, that sort of response IS sincere for Serena.

And if that's what is going to turn us against Serena Williams once and for all, that's pretty weak.

God, some people just can't say anything without catching ****.

You'll notice that the writer here did everything possible to avoid using "I" or "me" in this post.