Serena Wiliams Ridiculously Booed at Home Town Tournament

Serena Wiliams was ridiculously booed by pockets of Romanian fans cheering on Serena’s opponent, Simona Halep. This happened during a semifinal match in Miami, against Simona Halep.

Although she also got plenty of cheers for during the match, it was a disappointing display from the Miami crowd, who never challenged the Halep backers and seemed apathetic to Serena getting booed and trash-talked.

Nothing against people who want to cheer their countrywoman loudly, but according to ESPN’s announcers, the trash talk was a little harsher than you normally find on the courts.

On one changeover, umpire Kader Nouni told Serena not to take it personally. But she seemed to. The world No. 1 lost her composure in the second set, as the Romanian fans were getting louder during her serves, in the middle of points and then cheering unforced errors or faults. Cheering is one thing, having no regard for an opponent is another. This wasn’t a Davis Cup or Fed Cup; there’s no room for that in a regular tournament.

Serena twice blew break leads and appeared less confident than she had been early in the match. Even when Serena appeared fuelled by the anger in third set, she still couldn’t handle her emotions enough to serve out the match at 5-4. But Halep couldn’t consolidate that break, giving Serena a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win.

It was a pathetic display from Halep fans, but there was no beef between the contestants. They shared a warm moment at the net after the match. 

4/03/2015