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Serena's Legacy Marred Beyond Repair

Sep 14, 2009 – 8:53 PM
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Jay Mariotti

Jay Mariotti %BloggerTitle%

Turns out the angel has fangs. Can we ever look at her the same way again? With one malicious, threatening, swaggering, finger-pointing, racket-waving, f-bombing tantrum, Serena Williams took a sword to her legacy and did irretrievable damage. Just when we were starting to project her place in history -- her 11 Grand Slam singles titles, the perseverance of the Williams sisters as they became black champions in a largely white sport -- Serena deflected our eyes from her prominence to her startling petulance.

Such vitriol is going around, of course. Whether it's Kanye West dissing poor Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Awards or Joe Wilson shouting "You Lie!" at Barack Obama on the floor of the House of Representives, America is filled with angry bursts as the first decade of the 21st century ends. But Williams was supposed to be beyond such ill behavior, a credit to her sport and race and country. And when she took a stab at a mea culpa Monday, issuing a third apology after two cheap attempts, even that came across as too little, too late.


Filed under: Tennis, Sports

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