Serena knew during meltdown she’d been down this road before

After Serena Williams’ emotional meltdown in Saturday’s U.S. Open final, she brought up her star-crossed history of drama here at Flushing Meadows. She eve admitted thinking about it on-court as things started to go sideways.

“I think, yeah, that’s hard for me,” said Williams. “You know, I think it’s just instantly, just like, Oh, gosh, I don’t want to go back to 2004. Forget 2009, you know; it started way back then. So it’s always something.

“But that’s also kind of, like, this game mentally that you have to play with. You know, sometimes it might seem like things always happen, but I don’t know the word I’m looking for. You just kind of have to, like, try to realize that it’s coincidence. Maybe it’s coincidence.”

Here is a brief history:

2004 semifinals

Williams was on the wrong end of not one but a multitude of questionable calls against Jennifer Capriati. Television replays confirmed several of them to be incorrect. But, unlike Saturday, Williams kept her cool. She lost the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, but didn’t give it away with a meltdown.
Officials from the United States Tennis Association did apologize to Williams for a mistake by chair umpire Mariana Alves in the third set. The number of plainly missed calls did help lead to the implementation of replay for line calls.

2009 semifinals

Williams lost to Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-5 in match that finished in controversy. She was handed a point penalty at match point down after ripping a lineswoman.

Williams already had been given a code violation for racket abuse. She was down 15-30 when a foot-fault sanction was called against her on her second serve. That gave Clijsters match point, and prompted Williams to gesticulate at the lineswoman and give her a tongue-lashing. Williams got a second code violation and the resulting point penalty handed the win to a stunned Kljisters.

On-court microphones caught Williams replying to the official: “I never said I would kill you, are you serious?” Whatever she said, the lineswoman reported the exchange to umpire Louise Engzell, and tournament ref Brian Earley had to came out on the court to calm things down.

2011 final

After Williams dropped the first set to Samantha Stosur, she hit a killer forehand and cut loose with one of her typical “Come on!” yells. But umpire Eva Asderaki deemed that it broke the distraction rules and handed Stosur the point, which in turn gave her the game. She even chastised Williams.

“Are you the one who screwed me over last time?” asked Williams, who continued on the changeover. “You ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way, because you’re out of control — totally out of control.

“You’re a hater and you’re unattractive inside. Who would do such a thing? And I never complain. Wow. What a loser. You give a code violation because I expressed who I am? We’re in America last I checked. … Don’t look at me, I promise you don’t look at me ’cause I am not the one. Don’t look my way.”

Williams declined the post-match handshake with Asderaki.

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