Serena Williams is arguably one of the best women tennis players ever. And when she loses her temper, she is one of the best at that as well. Her latest temper tantrum proves the point.
In the Quarterfinals of the 2013 Australian Open, Serena was playing 19-year-old American up-and-comer, Sloane Stephens. They had split sets, the score was 1-all in the deciding set, Sloane was serving at 40-15. Serena sent a return of serve way wide, and Serena lost it. She smashed her racquet on the court, not just once, but twice, then threw the demolished racquet into her chair as she went to sit down before changing ends. You can watch her destroy her racquet at Bleacher Report.
Serena has been playing incredibly well in recent months, and had dominated all of her opponents through the first four rounds at this Grand Slam losing a total of only eight games in spite of twisting her ankle in the first match. She tweaked her ankle again in her doubles Quarterfinal loss with sister, Venus earlier in the day 6-3, 6-7(1), 5-7 to No. 1 seeds, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
Then she ran into a buzz-saw in No. 29 seed, Sloane Stephens. Serena won the first set 6-3, but it was obvious from the start that Sloane was not afraid of Serena’s power. During the second set at 4-all, while stopping short to keep from hitting the net, Serena hurt her back. The announcers said it seemed she was having back spasms. She took a medical time-out, and served a little gingerly for a while, losing the second set 7-5. In the third set, Serena seemed to be getting her power back on her strokes, and seemed to be moving well, although a little slower to the backhand side. Sloane took the set and the match at 6-4.
It was during the 3rd set that Serena had her tantrum. When asked in her post-match interview if she was able to get some frustrations out by smashing the racquet, she said emphatically, “Oh, yeah. Did you see it? I even had a wry smile on my lips after that. It made me happy, unfortunately.”
After the match Serena said: “It’s hard to rotate to the backhand. It was giving me trouble. But it was fine. I think my opponent played well and was able to do a really good job.”
Perhaps all of Serena’s injuries are beginning to catch up to her. This is the first time in Serena’s career that she has been defeated by an American female younger than she was. It could be the changing of the guard, a 19-year-old upstart replacing a 31-year-old legend. It will be interesting to see how Serena responds.
