At the 2009 U.S. Tennis Open, a line judge called a “foot fault” against Serena Williams, causing her to lose a point at a critical juncture of her championship match against the ultimate winner, Kim Clijsters. Williams menacingly turned toward the line judge and uttered an expletive. It was later reported that one of the things she said was, “You don’t know where I’m from.” (Williams grew up in Compton, a tough neighborhood outside Los Angeles.) The line judge ran up to the umpire to report the incident, which brought the tournament referee onto the court. Williams responded to statements by the line judge by proclaiming: “I never said | would kill you; are you serious?” Williams had picked up a first code violation for smashing her racket earlier in the match.
After discussing the situation with the player, line judge, and chair umpire, Williams was handed a second code violation leading to her automatic disqualification and the match went to Clijsters.
Talking to the press 10 minutes after the match, Williams appeared calm but said she could not recall what she had said to the line judge.
I said something that I guess they gave me a point penalty.
Unfortunately, it was on match point. I didn’t threaten. I didn’t say, | don’t remember any more. I was in the moment and everyone’s fighting for every point. I’ve never foot faulted [all year] and then suddenly in this tournament they keep calling foot faults. I’m not going to sit here and make an excuse. If I foot fault, I did. It is what it is and that’s basically all it was.
Williams, though, said she did not regret losing her temper:
“T haven’t thought about it to have any regrets. I try not to live my life saying, ‘I wish’ but I was out there and | fought and I tried and | did my best.”
On the following day, Williams was set to play in the doubles final with her sister Venus. Some wondered whether Serena would be suspended for her actions and disqualified from playing in the women’s doubles final. She was not and she and Venus won the double’s title. Later, Serena was fined $10,500 by the tournament referee. In a statement released by her public relations firm, Serena apologized and said:
“Everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don’t agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of the battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly.”
Questions 

1. People lose their temper all the time. Should we hold sports figures to a higher standard? Why or why not?
2. Evaluate Serena Williams’s behavior and statements from an ethical perspective using Josephson’s Six Pillars of Character.
3. The reactions to the Williams incident have been varied.
Some believe her tantrum was bad for tennis and she should have been suspended. Others believe her tirade won't harm tennis one bit—the publicity and strong personality helps attract some in the public to tennis. Still others point out that men have acted badly in the past, including John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, and no one seemed to blink an eye. Maybe there is a double standard.
What do you believe?