Serena Williams Threatens Line Judge, Loses at U.S. Open, Fined

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Serena Williams, the #2 ranked women's tennis player, was expected to go to the U.S. Open finals this weekend to compete for the title one again. But in her semifinal match against Kim Clijsters, Serena yelled at a line judge for calling a foot fault when she was two points away from losing to Clijsters. What did she say?

Well, according to the line judge, after the foul was called, Serena stepped toward her, shaking the ball, and said "If I could, I would take this ... ball and shove it down your ... throat." The line judge also said that Serena threatened to kill her. Serena did admit to yelling at the judge but denies saying that she threatened to kill her. Regardless, Serena was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and a point was given to Clijsters, which happened to be match point. ...

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Serena Williams, of the United States, returns a shot to Melinda Czink, of Hungary, during the second round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
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In the aftermath, Serena was fined $10,000 and may face further consequences, according to the Associated Press. "The average individual would look at that and say, 'a $10,000 fine for what she did? What are you guys, crazy?' The answer is: the process isn't over," tournament director Jim Curley said.

"What she did was unacceptable. It's unacceptable behavior under any circumstances," Curley added. "When you're on the court, and you are waving your racket toward a lines person and using profanity, it's just simply unacceptable. When you look at the tape, it's pretty clear that the way she approached the lines person, with her racket and in that manner, it was a threatening manner. It certainly was."

Take a look at the footage and Serena's press conference:





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