Serena Williams 2009 AP Female Athlete Of The Year

Tennis No. 1 Serena Is Top Female Athlete



Playing her best at the most important events, Serena Williams re-established herself as the top player in women's tennis in 2009 and was a landslide choice as Female Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

Williams received 66 of 158 votes cast by editors at U.S. newspapers that are members of the AP. No other candidate got more than 18 votes in the tally, which was announced Tuesday.

Clearly, Williams' most infamous on-court episode -- a tirade directed at a line judge after a foot-fault call near the end of her U.S. Open semifinal loss in September -- didn't hurt her standing in the eyes of the voters.

"People realize that I'm a great player, and one moment doesn't define a person's career," Williams told the AP. "And I was right, for the most part: It wasn't right the way I reacted -- I never said it was -- but I was right about the call."

She also noted that the outburst, which resulted in a record fine and two-year probationary period at Grand Slam tournaments, "got a lot more people excited about tennis."

The 28-year-old American tends to do that, thanks to her powerful, athletic play and her outgoing personality.

"We can attribute the strength and the growth of women's tennis a great deal to her," WTA chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster said in a telephone interview. "She is a superstar."

Williams, who is based in Florida, also won the AP award in 2002, a seven-year gap that is the longest between AP Female Athlete of the Year honors since golf's Patty Berg won in 1943 and 1955.

"I'm just happy and blessed to even be playing seven years later. All this is a bonus, really," Williams said. "In 2002, I just was really dominant, and I think in 2009, I just brought that back. I kind of became that player again."

Runner-up in the AP voting was Zenyatta, who capped a 14-0 career by becoming the first female horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Tennis' Kim Clijsters finished third with 16 votes.

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Serena out at Open after bizarre end; Nadal wins



Serena Williams walked toward the line judge, screaming, cursing and shaking a ball in the official's direction, threatening to "shove it down" her throat.

On match point in the U.S. Open semifinals Saturday night, defending champion Williams was penalized a point for unsportsmanlike conduct — a bizarre, ugly finish that gave a 6-4, 7-5 upset victory to unseeded, unranked Kim Clijsters.

The match featured plenty of powerful groundstrokes and lengthy exchanges. No one will remember a single shot that was struck, though, because of the unusual, dramatic way it ended.

With Williams serving at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, she faulted on her first serve. On the second serve, a line judge called a foot fault, making it a double-fault — a call rarely, if ever, seen at that stage of any match, let alone the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

That made the score 15-40, putting Clijsters one point from victory.

Instead of stepping to the baseline to serve again, Williams went over and shouted and cursed at the line judge, pointing at her and thrusting the ball toward her.

"If I could, I would take this ... ball and shove it down your ... throat," Williams said.

She continued yelling at the line judge, and went back over, shaking her racket in the official's direction.

Asked in her postmatch news conference what she said to the line judge, Williams wouldn't say, replying, "What did I say? You didn't hear?"

"I've never been in a fight in my whole life, so I don't know why she would have felt threatened," Williams said with a smile.

The line judge went over to the chair umpire, and tournament referee Brian Earley joined in the conversation. With the crowd booing — making part of the dialogue inaudible — Williams then went over and said to the line judge: "Sorry, but there are a lot of people who've said way worse." Then the line judge said something to the chair umpire, and Williams responded, "I didn't say I would kill you. Are you serious? I didn't say that." The line judge replied by shaking her head and saying, "Yes."

Williams already had been give a code violation warning when she broke her racket after losing the first set. So the chair umpire now awarded a penalty point to Clijsters, ending the match.

"She was called for a foot fault, and a point later, she said something to a line umpire, and it was reported to the chair, and that resulted in a point penalty," Earley explained. "And it just happened that point penalty was match point. It was a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct."

When the ruling was announced, Williams walked around the net to the other end of the court to shake hands with a stunned Clijsters, who did not appear to understand what had happened.

"I used to have a real temper, and I've gotten a lot better," Williams said later. "So I know you don't believe me, but I used to be worse. Yes, yes, indeed."

Lost in the theatrics was Clijsters' significant accomplishment: In only her third tournament back after 2 1/2 years in retirement, the 26-year-old Belgian became the first mother to reach a Grand Slam final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley won Wimbledon 1980.

"The normal feelings of winning a match weren't quite there," Clijsters said. "But I think afterwards, when everything kind of sunk in a little bit and got explained to me about what happened, yeah, you kind of have to put it all in place, and then it becomes a little bit easier to understand and to kind of not celebrate, but at least have a little bit of joy after a match like that."

Clijsters hadn't competed at the U.S. Open since winning the 2005 championship. Now she will play for her second career major title Sunday against No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 in the other rain-delayed women's semifinal.

Williams came into the day having won three of the past four Grand Slam titles, and 30 of her previous 31 matches at major tournaments.

She was playing fantastically at the U.S. Open, not losing a set before Saturday and having lost her serve a total of three times through five matches.

But Clijsters — who beat Williams' older sister, No. 3 Venus, in the fourth round — was superb, matching strokes and strides with as strong and swift a woman as the game has to offer.

Williams, meanwhile, kept making mistakes, and two backhand errors plus a double-fault contributed to a break at love that put Clijsters ahead 4-2.

When Williams netted backhands on consecutive points at 5-4, Clijsters had broken her for the second time and taken the opening set. The last backhand was the 14th unforced error made by Williams to that point — twice as many as Clijsters — and the American bounced her racket, caught it, then cracked it against the blue court, mangling the frame.

When Williams walked to the changeover, she clanged it against the net post and was given a warning for racket abuse by the chair umpire.

That would prove pivotal about an hour later, at match's end.

"I mean, the timing is unfortunate, you know," Clijsters said. "To get a point penalty at the time, it's unfortunate. But there are rules, and you know, like I said, it's just unfortunate that it has to happen on a match point."

Earlier in the day, No. 3-seeded Rafael Nadal beat No. 11 Gonzalez 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-0 in a match that began Thursday evening, was suspended that night because of showers in the second-set tiebreaker, and didn't resume until Saturday thanks to more rain Friday.

Nadal, who has been struggling with an abdominal injury during the tournament, refused to get into details about his health as usual.

What the six-time major champion is willing to make clear: He feels a lot less drained these days than he normally does by the time the year's last Grand Slam tournament — the only one he hasn't won — rolls around.

"I'm more fresh than last year, 100 percent sure. We will see how I am physically tomorrow. But mentally — last year, (I) was totally destroyed mentally," Nadal said Saturday after finally completing his rain-interrupted quarterfinal win over an error-prone Fernando Gonzalez. "Mentally, this year, I am perfect, no?" Weather permitting — two key words at Flushing Meadows lately — Nadal will face No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro in one men's semifinal Sunday, and No. 1 Roger Federer will meet No. 4 Novak Djokovic in the other. The men's final, usually played on Sunday, has been pushed back to Monday on account of the weather for the second consecutive year, a financial hit for the U.S. Tennis Association. The men's final hadn't been played on Monday since 1987.

Gonzalez, for one, figures this year's championship matchup is a foregone conclusion.

"You always expect that Federer plays the finals against Nadal," Gonzalez said. "Good for the game. It's good for the fans."

Well, it is true that Federer and Nadal have met in seven Grand Slam finals already.

First things first, though.

Del Potro beat Nadal the last two times they played. Plus, the 6-foot-6 Argentine should be well-rested, considering that he hasn't played a point since his quarterfinal victory Thursday. Federer, seeking a sixth consecutive U.S. Open championship, and Djokovic, the 2007 runner-up, have been able to enjoy some R-&-R since winning their quarterfinals Wednesday.

He and Gonzalez originally stepped on court Thursday at about 7 p.m. After Nadal won the first set, he took a medical timeout to have a trainer check his abdominal muscles. Then four games into the second set, there was a 75-minute rain delay. After play resumed, Nadal took a 3-2 lead in the second tiebreaker when they were forced off court for the night.

It wasn't until about 37 1/2 hours later that they picked up again. Nadal swept through four straight points — all on miscues by Gonzalez — to end the second set.

"So quick," Gonzalez said.

Things never got better for Gonzalez, who sought treatment from a trainer for his feet and simply kept missing the mark with his big forehand and less-imposing backhand, over and over and over.

Gonzalez wound up with 59 unforced errors in all, a read-that-again 46 more than Nadal.

What happened?

"I can't tell you," Gonzalez said, "because I don't have the answer."



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