Serena Williams Disqualified After Rant, Alleged Threat Against Lineswoman

Although the exact rant is inaudible in the video of Serena Williams' foot fault below, it's clear that she hurled some verbal abuse at a lineswoman at the U.S. Open today. That, coupled with a prior penalty for smashing her racket earlier in the match, cost her a point. Unfortunately, it was on match point against her.

That point propelled Kim Clijsters into the finals of the U.S. Open and Serena Williams what's likely to be a big mess. Rather, a bigger mess.

Williams has a fiery temper, and a foot fault is called in the second set, with Clijster ahead 6-4, 6-5 and 15-40, after the foot fault. In the Serena Williams foot fault video below you can clearly see her reaction to the call, with her shaking her racket at the lineswoman.

According to some reports, Williams said to the lineswoman:

"If I could, I would take this [bleep] ball and shove it down your [bleep] throat and kill you."

An alternative version of the rant is:

"I swear to God, I'm [bleep] taking this ball and I'm shoving it down your [bleep] throat."

Unless some clearer audio comes forward, the question of "what did Serena Williams say to that lineswoman" may never be fully answered. While denying she threatened the lineswoman with death, she certainly waved her racker at her, as can clearly be seen in the video of Serena Williams' rant below, and that should be enough.

Ironically, Williams said she felt she did foot fault, although she may have just been saying that to calm things down. At the post match press conference, Williams said:

"I'm pretty sure I did. If she called a foot fault, she must have seen a foot fault. I mean, she was doing her job. I'm not going to knock her for not doing her job."

If so, why the rant? The familiar excuse of "the of the moment" simply isn't good enough. At any rate, it was stupid to do so at the end of the match, unless she was certain she could not come back and beat Clijsters. Watch the Serena Williams foot fault video below: