ITF Let Golden Star Serena Off Hook

The International Tennis Federation has completed its two-month "investigation'' into Serena Williams' f-bomb-laced, threatening tirade toward a line judge on worldwide TV at the U.S. Open. Her "punishment'' should come Monday or Tuesday.

I would give just about anything to see the notes from this "investigation.'' The quote-marks show that this was just a theoretical thing, anyway. As in, it took two months to find "justice.''

This whole thing has been a sham. Will Williams be suspended from the next major, the Australian Open in January?

"I don't think [an Australian Open ban] would make much sense, because it would penalize the people handing out the punishment,'' ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said. "For the grand slam committee to exclude her from a grand slam doesn't seem likely.

---

---

"A significant financial penalty makes more sense. But it has to be significant enough for the fans [to feel justice was served].''

It's rare for one of these bureaucratic-b.s. organizations to admit so freely how small and weak it is. So the ITF, which governs the major championships, is not expected to vote to suspend Williams from a major because it would hurt the ITF's cash flow.

The ITF isn't even coming to a conclusion, isn't telling you what it thinks here, whether Williams has already been punished enough. Right and wrong never mattered here. So what has it spent these past two months doing? Everyone involved in the "investigation'' was easily accessible. And the whole thing happened on worldwide TV.

This is what they've been doing: talking among themselves to figure out what they can do to punish her to make fans happy without hurting themselves.

The grand slam committee still has to vote on grand slam administrator Bill Babcock's recommendations. But this seems like a done deal.

Frankly, I'm not even as worked up over her tirade as a lot of people are. But it's just so pathetic when a governing body finds its self-interests bigger than the thing it's governing.

And what timing. Tennis has spent the past few weeks agonizing over what Andre Agassi said in his book, that he regularly used crystal meth in 1997 as a player, failed a drug test and talked his way out of it with a flimsy excuse of a lie.

What an outrage that tennis swept a positive drug test under the rug to avoid hurting one of the game's big stars.

Tennis has not changed one bit. The president of the ITF doesn't think Williams should be suspended from the Australian because that will hurt the ITF.

If Williams hadn't been this big of a star, would she have been suspended? Well, last week, Yanina Wickmayer, the 18th ranked woman and certainly not a household name, was given a one-year ban from the tour for a doping offense.

She didn't fail a test. She never even missed a test. She didn't report where she would be.

So she's out for a year. And Serena Williams? She apparently is not going to be out for 15 minutes. She apparently will get a heavy fine. She made $550,000 at that U.S. Open. I'll guess they'll stick her for half of that.

It's a lot of money for most people. But Williams would still have made a quarter of a million from the tournament, winnings minus "justice.''

The message from the ITF is this: Serena Williams is bigger than the game, bigger than us.

It's true. She is. She's a great player who brings great star power to a game that really needs it.

But tennis' governing bodies have created the other side, reinforced bad behavior. At the French Open this year, another player cheated Williams, taking a point even though the ball hit her arm. Williams was understandably angry.

But then she threatened the woman, saying she would get her in the locker room.

Williams' punishment?

Nothing.

At the U.S. Open in the semis against Kim Clijsters, Williams built on that. Knowing she can get away with threats, she waved her racquet in the face of a tiny line judge who happened to have made the correct call, by the way.

I was sitting right along the line. The foot-fault was obvious to anyone sitting there. Amazingly, no photos or video footage has ever emerged with a clear view.

But that really doesn't matter? Williams had no place making threats, saying she would shove the ball down the line judge's throat.

Williams can do whatever she wants because tennis has let her, tennis is afraid of her, tennis knows that she's the golden goose.

Last week, on Tuesday, she told the USTA that she would play for the U.S. flag in the Fed Cup final against Italy. So the USTA named its official team, including Williams. And then on Saturday, Williams went back on her word, pulling out because she said she was too beat up to play.

Over the next 36 hours, she won two matches, including one over her sister, Venus, at a big tournament in Doha.

So Melanie Oudin became the Fed Cup team leader. And after the team lost Sunday, she said some things that might have been shots at the Wiliams sisters. Venus also didn't play.

"I wanted to play for my country,'' she said. "I don't know, other people choose different things ...

"But I think that the team that we had here really wanted to be here ... That's what you want. You don't want people that don't want to be here or play for their country.''

Play for the Fed Cup or not, Williams should at least live up to her word.

But she's much bigger than anyone who might have the nerve to say that.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com