The Williams sisters won the U.S. Open women’s doubles title on Monday, two days after Serena’s ugly exit in the singles semifinals.
Serena returned with her sister, Venus, and rolled to an easy victory for their 10th Grand Slam doubles championship.
It was a 6-2, 6-2 win over defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber and it couldn’t have been more unlike the scene on Saturday night, when Williams got called for a foot fault that triggered her outburst at a line judge. That resulted in a point penalty on match point against Kim Clijsters, and an ugly departure from the singles semifinal.
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About a half-hour before the doubles match began, Williams issued an apology saying she is “a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit when I’m wrong.”
She received a $10,000 fine on Sunday. She and Venus will split a $420,000 winner’s check for their first U.S. Open title since 1999.
Patrick McEnroe conducted the post-match interview on court and Williams sounded contrite but didn’t apologise.
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“I’d like to thank the fans for supporting me through everything,” she said to applause from a few thousand fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I really, really love you guys and never want to have a bad image for you guys.”
McEnroe asked two follow-up questions, but was interrupted by booing on the second one, as he tried to ask her “what clicked” in her mind over the past 48 hours to trigger the apology, which came a day after she’d issued a first statement that didn’t include one.
Big sister Venus stepped in. “I think what the crowd is saying is, ‘Patrick, let’s move on,”’ Venus said.