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Serena Williams is being fined $82,000 for her outburst at the US Open in September.

During the U.S. Open, Williams was called for a foot fault and then cursed out the line judge, which ultimately caused Williams to lose the semi-final match to Kim Clijsters. Well, Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock won't forget and gave his judgment on Serena's punishment on Monday.

Babcock announced that Williams will be fined $82,000 for her tirade and put on a two-year probationary period. If Serena has another outburst or major offense at any Grand Slam Tournament, she will be barred from the next U.S. Open and fined $175,000.

Babcock told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from London, "...if she does not have another offense in the next two years, the suspension [will be] lifted."

Granted her outburst might have been inappropriate at least for tennis, cuz uh...seems par for the course for hockey or basketball, but this seems like an awful lot of money. The last person to ever have been fined so much in tennis was Jeff Tarango in the 90's who was fined $48,000, because he cursed and stormed off the court and then his wife stepped down and slapped the referee.

It is important to remember as well that there was a serious racist backlash to Serena's actions online. Rod 2.0 has more on that.

And let's not forget that this was one outburst from Serena, an exception to the rule, as opposed to say John McEnroe who was known for his outburst and became part of his celebrity status. As my friend Marvin just said, "Serena is a threat to the integrity and order of the sport," and there is nothing not racial about that.

Just doesn't seem right to me.

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View Original Post at feministing.com