by Adria Quinones Pretty good discussion in the Daily News on the Serena Williams rant at the US Open. 
Williams behind the racket at the Australian Open
For six years now, Serena Williams has been an overbearing study in underachievement at Flushing Meadows. She has had legitimate alibis along the way, from injury to personal tragedy, but still the U.S. Open failures mounted, the stomping of sneakers didn't help, and there was no explaining all of this away. How does somebody of such obviously superior skills fail to reach so much as a semifinal at her home major, on a surface tailored to her ferocity?
It is an issue she may not need to address for some time, because Williams has emerged again from the untalented masses of the WTA Tour, at long last. Serena can make a lot of ghosts and grumps disappear with one more victory here. She can capture her ninth major, her third Open title and the No. 1 ranking with one scoop of her racket. And then it will be hard for anyone to say that tennis' de facto monarch, the drama queen, is not living up to expectations.
It wasn't that long ago that women were required to play in skirts . I think that Serena Williams has pushed the envelope on being a woman in tennis, from what she wears to how she looks (remember the comments on her biceps ?). As noted last month by Abena Agayen-Fisher , Williams responded last year by talking frankly to People Magazine about her own body image issues_ emphasizing that "I want women to know that it's okay. You can be whatever size you are, and you can be beautiful both inside and out. We're always told what's beautiful and what's not, and that's not right.”
Continue reading at Women's Voices For Change.
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i agree with everything you've written, but still find a disconnect between Serena's situation within pro tennis and it being at all defensible to threaten to throw a "f-ing ball" down a line judge's "f-ing throat." it can certainly be put into context, but i'd have a hard time ever defending that.
I don't understand the point of this post. Are you saying that what she said was OK because she is female? Since men have gotten away with that and worse?
Threatening violence in a fit of frustration is not acceptable, period.
Certainly not acceptable of a millionaire who is a pampered, successful, world level athlete, male female or intersexed, young, old, and of any color shape or size- it is simply not acceptable.
Part of being a professional athlete is dealing with loss and frustration. Her losses and frustrations are petty compared to what so many people are experiencing in this world.
The fact that men do it or may have gotten away with that and worse, does not make it acceptable.