Williams Finds Some Peace in Talk With Chair Umpire

For Serena Williams, the incident involving a controversial overrule against her at the U.S. Open last year in her quarterfinal match against Jennifer Capriati has been put to rest.

Well ... almost.

Williams said Sunday that the chair umpire, Mariana Alves, who made the mistake in the third set of that match, apologized to her later at an indoor tournament at Linz, Austria. Williams was with a WTA tour official at the event, spotted Alves and sought her out to sort out their differences.

“We talked about it, and I think she was really happy afterward because she wanted to talk to me about it,” Williams said. “I don’t know if she could. So yeah, I had to confront her. She was fine, and we both felt better about the situation.” U.S. Open officials apologized to Williams in the days following the match, and there have been calls for the need for instant replay in tennis.

“When I talked with her she said she didn’t do it on purpose, and that’s just the way she saw the ball, although everyone else in the world saw it different,” Williams said. “But that’s way in the past, though. That’s six months ago, four months ago.”

The seventh-seeded Williams was talking shortly after her 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 fourth-round victory against No. 11 Nadia Petrova of Russia at the Australian Open. She will next play No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo of France in the quarterfinals, a rematch of their meeting in November in the season-ending WTA Championships at Staples Center, which Williams won.

This is the first Grand Slam event since the Open, and Alves has been working matches here. Tournament officials said she would not be in the chair for any of Williams’ matches.

“Preferably, I wouldn’t want her on my court, but that’s my preference,” Williams said. “I know I wouldn’t be too happy. I have too many demons still.”

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Randy Moss pretends to drop his pants and receives a $10,000 fine from NFL officials. Last year, Marat Safin actually did the deed at the French Open against Felix Mantilla and was not penalized for that action. Instead, Safin was fined $500 for racket abuse.

“You don’t remember [the score],” Safin said. “You remember I dropped the pants. Let’s put it this way, John McEnroe, you remember what he did on the court, not what was the score. I’m not saying everybody should do that.... But these things, they might help tennis a little bit. I’m not trying to defend myself at all.”

His musing followed a win against Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the fourth round Sunday. Safin lost the first set and won the next three, all in tiebreakers.

He joked about funding the ATP through his actions.

“They fine me ... enough times I can be also sponsor of the ATP at the time,” Safin said.