Serena Williams Pulls a Mike Tyson

Serena Williams had a meltdown of epic proportions at the U.S. Open Championship and as I watched her meltdown, all I could think was, somewhere in Vegas Mike Tyson is smiling while petting his pet tiger. Serena’s epic meltdown was taken right out of Tyson’s playbook from 20 years ago and it’s time people just accept the fact that it was not anger that drove to Serena to make a spectacle out of the game.

Serena’s Coach was warned for coaching from the box and I could care less that other people do it, or it happens all the time, or it shouldn’t be a rule. It really makes no difference because it is a rule and if an umpire calls it, you abide by it. Some umpires in baseball call balks at the drop of a hat while others ignore it. Some NBA referees allow aggressive play while others blow the whistle. In football, we see on a regular basis a hand on the back of a receiver called a pass interference in the 1^st quarter but then a receiver gets shoved to the ground in the 4^th and the refs look the other way. Anyone who has played sports knows that each and every ref/ump calls things differently. Serena HAD to know this when he made the call against her and instead of just going about her business, she had a meltdown. We call hogwash on her little act. The only thing Serena knew was that she was losing and had no chance of winning so she pulled a Mike Tyson.

Tyson was the most intimidating boxer of his generation and in match after match the fight was over the second they rang the bell. Even the great Mike Spinks admitted to being intimidated seeing an oak stump with arms charging at him. Along comes Buster Douglas, who’s mother had just died weeks before, and a depressed Douglas had nothing to lose and stood up to Tyson and knocked him out and set the stage for how to beat him. A few jail sentences and marriages later, Tyson fought Evander Holyfield in a mega bout and just like Douglas, he stood up to Tyson and threw punches and eventually knocked him out.   A year later they had the much hailed rematch and Tyson was supposed to march in and knock him out for revenge, but in the opening rounds, it was obvious Tyson’s intimidation act was over. Tyson knew he was done and decided it would be better to get disqualified than to get his ass knocked out again for the second time in a year. His entire image would have been ruined and he would no longer be a draw. So he did the pit bull routine and openly kept biting so the ref would disqualify him. The result was that Mike continued to get mega fight after mega fight because he wasn’t knocked out, he was “crazy” and that sold better. Serena?

Serena lost to this younger player Naomi Osaka 6-2 and 6-3 in March of this year in Miami and she appears to be the real deal. She is young, spry and has some wicked shots in her arsenal. Fast forward a few months later and Serena gets whipped 6-2 in the first and Osaka is on her way to an easy victory in the second and her first Grand Slam championship, but Serena pulled a Mike Tyson. The meltdown she displayed was so over the top that Mike Tyson actually said “Thass embassssssing”. Serena realized this kid has her number and this was nothing more than a Nike driven stunt to keep interest in her and probably set up another Nike commercial featuring her yelling screaming and calling everybody a thief or a sexist. Sorry Serena, not buying it. You know you can beat this kid and are probably praying you don’t see her again in a match. I think it’s a shame that a 20 year old girl could not enjoy her hard earned victory and instead was a victim of a con job. In the aftermath of Holyfield –Tyson part II, nobody talked about the fact that Evander clobbered him for the 2^nd time in a year and effectively, ended his career. Today, nobody is talking about Osaka and her first Slam win and how she has beaten the great Serena Williams twice in five months.

-BSB