Serena and women's tennis

Remember the last time we saw Serena Williams in a Grand Slam event? She was being "ousted" in the semis after saying a couple, um...shall we say, not too kind remarks directed at a line judge who had called Williams for a foot fault. It was Serena's second code violation which was a point penalty.

The problem. She was facing a break point for the match at the time the violation was called. Point. Game. Match. It was over.

Who was Serena's opponent in that match? It was then unranked Kim Clijsters from Belgium who had received a wild card entry into the tournament. Clijsters would go on to win the U.S. Open by defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final. Clijsters was in only her third event since coming out of retirement.

Side note here. Clijsteres retired to become a mother. And she was once the top-ranked player in the world. Store that last part in your memory bank.

So there she was. Serena had a shot at redemption...of sorts. You see, if Serena could manage to capture her fifth Australian Open title, maybe that would make people forget about that match in Flushing Meadows. She would have won 4 of the last 6 Grand Slam events. Now, that's impressive. That's almost Roger Federer-like. That's a feat that would easily overshadow any lingering thoughts of her tantrum at the last Slam. And one last thing, since 1968 when the Open era began, Serena would hold the record for most titles in Australia.

2009's stories in tennis

2009 was a compelling year in tennis. We saw a record broken, a young American light up England and New York, and an outburst in New York. Hard to fathom that one of the top stories of the year doesn't include a former Grnad Slam winner. That's only because of what else happened.

5. The return of Kim Clijsters

Clijsters walked away from tennis and was ready to settle down to be a mother and wife. But something was drawing her back. And the tennis world was blessed to see her performance in New York. It even inspired former #1 Justine Henin to return. What makes Clijsters run to the U.S. Open title extremely impressive is who she defeated. #3 Venus Williams, #18 Na Li, #2 Serena Williams, #9 Caroline Wozniacki. Four straight seeds faced, four straight seeds defeated.

4. Richard Gasquet dodges suspension.

On July 15, it was announced that Gasquet would not face any type of suspension as the result of a positive test in March. What was in Gasqet's urine sample? Cocaine. The most surprising part of this story is how Gasquet told the International Tennis Federation the cocaine got in his system. Gasquet told the ITF's panel that he kissed a woman in a nightclub. That was his defense...and the ITF bought it. Well, it was also presented that Gasquet barely had any cocaine in his system at the time of the test, but he did have it in his system.

3. Serena's U.S. Open

It was the semi-finals when it happened. The world's #2 player, Serena Williams, was playing the eventual winner, unseeded Kim Clijsteres. Williams was called for a foot fault by a line judge. She could not believe that such a call was made. Williams strode in the direction of the judge and began to tirade her for what Williams viewed as a bad call. After Serena was done, the judge went to the referee and before we all knew it, Clijsters was awarded a point due to an earlier outburst from Serena. That meant the match was also over and Clijsters was the victor and advancing to the finals. Williams was fined over $80 grand for this outburst.

2. Melanie Oudin

No American drew more attention this past summer than Oudin. It began at Wimbledon when Oudin ousted  #6 seed Jelena Jankovic in three sets. to advance to the second week. Her stay wouldn't last much longer. Oudin had a chance to advance further and she pushed #11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska for two difficult sets, but Oudin dropped the match. That magic would travel with Oudin to New York. Oudin would drop a quarterfinal match to eventual runner-up #9 seed Catherine Wozniacki, but Melanie would leave a trail of impressive three set wins in her wake (#13 Nadia Petrova, #29 Maria Sharapova and #4 Elena Dementieva). Did I mention that she's only 18?

1. Roger Federer

Three things about Fed's year. He finally won in Paris. That meant he finally got his career slam. Federer also broke Pete Sampras' record for lifetime Grand Slam wins. Federer broke the record at Wimbledon against Andy Roddick in what could only be termed as the match of the year. Breaking Sampras' record wasn't enough as Pete himself attended the affair and witness the passing of the torch to Roger. All of this and Federer became a father. Could anyone ask for more from a year?

Next for us? we'll take a look at 2009 from college football.

Clijsters advances to US Open final...in a bizarre way

Kim Clijsters is back. She's back in the U.S. Open finals and it occurred in a peculiar way.

While serving at 5-6, 15-30, Serena Williams was called for a foot fault. That foot fault made the game score 15-40, and Williams was obviously distraught over the call. It's pretty odd to see that call at that stage of a match. But instead of showing her usual calm demeanor, Williams decided to shout at the line judge. The world's #2 player and tourney's #2 seed said something along these lines:

“If I could, I would take this … ball and shove it down your … throat and kill you.”

 Apparently that judge felt threatened by Williams' statement. That statement was a little brash, to say the least. Normally, this "exhibit" would result in a conduct warning. But Serena had already been issued such a warning after the first set for "abusing her racket". The next step, awarding a point to her opponent. And that's exactly what was done. Clijsters was awarded a point and giving her the game...and the match.

But don't let those events from last night cloud what Clijsters has done. With her win last night, Clijsters has gone from wild card entry to U.S. Open finalist. Along the way, she has defeated four seeds, #14 Marion Bartoli, #3 Venus Williams, #18 Li Na, and #2 Serena. She will have to go up against another seed in #9 Caroline Wozniacki to gain her second U.S. Open title.

And she could be favored to do just that. Beating five seeds would be such an incredible run.

Clijsters has given credit to Lindsey Davenport for helping her prepare for life on the courts as a parent. Clijsters has an 18 month old daughter. I hope Davenport told her of the "terrible twos".

Hey Kim, they are just around the corner.