Serena Williams Attacks Criticism of Poor Play

As everyone knows, Serena Williams won her first title of the year at Banglador, defeating Patty Schnyder in the finals and her sister Venus in the semis. In a blog on her website, Serena wrote this breezy rant about a newspaper account:

Ok so this morning I read the paper...

But we thought that you don't read articles about yourself in the press.

Ok so this morning I read the paper (this is the very reason why I don’t read articles about myself) about the match yesterday.

Huh? So, which is it? Oh, never mind.

It was a local paper and a local article talking about the match. And can you believe what they said?

Shouldn't you tell us what they said before asking us if we believe it?

I could believe what you say they said if you linked to the article to verify your claims about it. But you don't. You don't even name the paper or the author. Why?

But don't worry. I found it. Just Google her quote "75-minute title clash never rose above the mediocre" and there it is.

Here is this hick "local" newspaper Serena is trashing - the Deccan Herald - and the top of the article she is throwing a fit about:

Serena reigns supreme

By R Satya, DH News Service, Bangalore:

Former world number one Serena Williams hit a ball into to the crowd in celebration, but the ball flew out of the stadium. I'm sorry, she said. Well, that mishit summed up the finale in a nutshell.

Coming into the final with fine victories in the semifinals the previous day, the huge crowd turnout expected another great fare from Serena and Patty Schnyder. Sadly, the error-filled 75-minute title clash never rose above the mediocre. The third-seeded Serena did play the big points well to fall across the line.

The American made her maiden trip to India a memorable one. The out of sorts Serena overcame an equally out of sorts Schnyder 7-5, 6-3 to emerge triumphant in the $600,000 Bangalore Open at the KSLTA stadium courts on Sunday...

Read the rest. Nothing in it for Serena to be upset about. In fact the criticism was of both players and Serena's ability to play the big points well was noted. So was the fine play of both players in the semis. So, apparantly, Serena just can't take ANY - even the slightest - criticism.

Note what she's mad about: being told the crowd wasn't enthralled with the Great Serena just being there, no matter how bad a performance she put on. Hmmm.

And she misses the whole stadium with a celebratory shot? I'd say the article was pretty kind to her, in the light of that.

Now back to Serena's account of that article.

I’ll tell you, they said the match was boring and listless, and I quote 'The 75 min title clash never rose above the mediocre.' Then they went on to say that the crowd was not interested in the match and they were bored. Ok so I have two issues with this. First of all they did not even use the word mediocre in the sentence correctly!!! Go back and look!!! I mean if you are going to dog someone and in English nonetheless please use the correct language!!!

Just how would you prefer that they have used the word mediocre? "Mediocrely" perhaps? Please, I find myself at a loss to know what you think is wrong with that sentence. It's an elliptical expression, by the way, for "mediocre level."

And, by the way, YOU are criticizing anyone else's English!!! What a hoot! Just look at the very piece you're saying this in: it's riddled with errors, bad punctuation, cliches, and poor style. Shall I sound smart by correcting them all for you? No, then I'd be doing what you did, except that I'd know what I'm talking about.

And what has the language of the article got to do with anything? And how is this "dogging you"? And what's so bad about "dogging you" in English?

Haven't you heard? Indians speak English so well it hardly qualifies as a second language there. It doesn't sound like you know that or why.

What a JERK who ever wrote that!! I dare them to say that to my face! I don’t see their career going much farther than…well the local paper in…. I’ll stop I’m being mean!!"

Is that a threat?

It must be a threat, because you can't be so far gone that you think yourself a judge of a journalist's talent and prognosticator of his future career in the business.

And you keep beating that word local like a tom-tom. So R Satya isn't famous and rich like you. Therefore, you can hit on him all you want.

You are 26 years old. Grow up.

By the way, the "jerk" who "ever" wrote that has a name. You find it at the top of the article.

Ok so now that I got that off my chest I had a weird experience in Bangalore. One night I was in my room and my doorbell started ringing. I was sleep but I woke up to get the door. I got there just in time. There were three guys there at my door. Frankly, they looked like thugs and one of them covered the peep hole as I was looking through it and the other started putting a key in the door! I was terrified, I quickly put the top lock on and then I bolted it. I was like wow! So weird! I guess they were some of the fans that were bored to tears with the match! Hahahah Anyways I did survive to tell the tale. I could not shake the feeling that I was going to be kidnapped. So far I have not!! If I do I hope that I have my blackberry!!

"I hope I have my blackberry!!" Do you get the distinct impression that you're listening to a five-year-old?

Just what made them look like thugs? How did "thugs" even get into such a swanky place? If one of them tried a key, don't you think that means they were just at the wrong door? Give us a break. Many idiots (especially when they've been tipping a few) cover the peephole to be funny.

Little paranoid, maybe?

I think you need a little more reason than that to decide that it was all about you. What a vivid imagination you have.

UPDATE: Revealing the rest of the story of what is going on here.

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