Serena apologized twice at her post-doubles championship press conference and was fined $10K.
Roger was fined $1500 for swearing at the chair umpire during his championship final, but never apologized.
(Also, his "outburst" was not brought up again -- particularly in light of his assisting the Swiss team in sweeping to victory over the Italian team in the Davis Cup this weekend.)
Jimmy Connors was not fined for his 5-minute rant at the chair umpire in the 1991 USO the weekend of his 40th birthday.
So hopefully we can all get over it now and celebrate the sisters' relationship and their great tennis (although more core work may be in order if they want to beat Kim Clijsters again now that she's back on the pro tour).
The Williams sisters are a shining example in the world of sports. They both have such good heads on their shoulders and consistently show grace under pressure. What happened at the US Open was a freak incident; worse behaviour has been displayed and TOLERATED. The media went out of their way to paint their father as a buffoon but unlike many other tennis parents he was never abusive or took advantage of his daughters emotionally or financially. The proof is in the pudding and I am euphoric that the Williams family is having the last laugh.
This is definitely true for my family. I am probably the most naturally smart/able to skate by, while my middle sister, who is far more diligent and hardworking, often performs better because she's willing to put in the effort. My younger sister has a lot of issues with book smarts, but she is WAY more popular than either of us ever were. She's one of the mean kids in middle school, while I was one of the ones who got picked on, or at least, ignored.
I remember realizing in middle school that almost ALL of the "popular" kids had an older sibling. I'm not sure why -- I hope I've been there for my sister to advise her against disastrous outfits and makeup in ways no one did for me, etc., but it is interesting to think about.
Pretty much everyone in my family has some form of depression or anxiety. I got treatment, my brother refused. I finished college, but he, despite his full ride, did not. I don't know how that happened. My dad even told me once he always thought I'd have "more trouble" in school. Thanks, Dad.
I am the middle child. However, my older brother screwed up, and continues to be a pretty big mess on a regular basis. So I am on track for grad school, and he spent the last 6 years working on an associate's degree which he probably won't ever finish. And my little brother is a lot closer to my end of the spectrum. For those of us who had older siblings who couldn't get it together, this argument doesn't work. We're the ones seeking the approval and working our asses off; however, for me the nag factor was never there. I was motivated to NOT EVER be my brother. It's so interesting to see how me and my younger brother are so similar, and my older brother is off setting fires in his life right and left. I think it has a lot more to do with the child/teenager than nurturing.
Between me and my sister, I got the short end of the genetic stick. She's smarter, cuter, and more successful than I'll ever be. So I made up for it in typical little sibling fashion: Fucking up all through high school. Awww yeah.
Is noone on here a youngest? I'm the 2nd of 2. My older brother had dyslexia and was given a lot of slack with his gardes but we always did the same. We even got the same at Uni. He's a teacher, married, owns his own house and I'm sitting in my mothers house right after a massive row about how I have no ambition.
Plus actually all three of us were wild growing up, my mother sometimes said feral. And prone to running into trouble. I'm the most academically successful though and the only one with a traditional university degree and graduate degrees and that probably is due to wanting to make my father proud as the eldest.
Ugh, I hate this. I have such issues with being the younger sister...I'm always comparing myself to my sister, who I've always felt was prettier, smarter, more competitive, and more successful than I am. Maybe it's just my low self esteem, but I always looked up to her as a kid, and even now, and it's been discouraging (she's also kind of a bitch, for real). And then she sends me links to scientific studies saying that first-borns are smarter, taller (she is), and more succesful...UGH. I've decided that I'm just going to do my thing and try not to think about it.
@randomnessish: Dude, I feel you, and I'm the older sister! I've always had massive envy issues because my sister is so much thinner, prettier and infintely more popular than me (and she gets away with murder). Trust, your sis almost certainly compares herself to you as well, even if she doesn't admit it.
I'd like to know how this would apply to the world record 64-children-by-one-mother family. I mean, would kid 32 be really any more or less neglected than kids 16 and 48?
Younger sibling syndrome has run-rampant for years. Almost all my friends are the oldest and they have one younger sibling. They did well in school, got lots of degrees, etc. The younger ones go to community college, still live at home, etc. It's an odd pattern to ignore. It's the same in my family as well.
I think it's because parents are harder are their first borns and slacker on the younger kids. They let a lot of shit go with the 2nd kids, probably more than they should...
@JinxyMcDeath: This is the situation with me and my friends. Although my brother definitely isn't lazy, he has been in and out of school, "exploring options." He works full-time now in a tough job as a corrections officer in a federal max prison, but is temporarily living at home again. Once I left at 17, I haven't been back for more than a few weeks in the summer and 4 months after graduate when I was job-searching. I could never go back to living with my parents unless in dire straits.
@JinxyMcDeath: That's so funny, my younger sister and I are completely the opposite. I'm the slacker in the family; I was the one that needed parental pushing to achieve my 'potential' (even then I came up with ingenious napping strategies). I coasted through school on brains and bravado and only discovered hard work when I got to college. I certainly was happy to have parents do things for me if I could get away with it.
Meanwhile my little sister actually has always needed to be told to relax and work less hard. She's ferociously independent and has been a slogger all her life, as a hardcore dancer and now a medical student. I've seen her sit and study for 7 or 8 straight hours, whereas after 45 minutes I'm drifting off, experimenting with interesting new ways of sitting, drawing intricately-shaded portraits of my hand, that kind of thing... (yeah I make a great doctoral student). Maybe it's just a personality thing. The last thing my sister ever needed was a push from parents, except maybe to chill out and eat some cake.
09/23/09
Roger was fined $1500 for swearing at the chair umpire during his championship final, but never apologized.
(Also, his "outburst" was not brought up again -- particularly in light of his assisting the Swiss team in sweeping to victory over the Italian team in the Davis Cup this weekend.)
Jimmy Connors was not fined for his 5-minute rant at the chair umpire in the 1991 USO the weekend of his 40th birthday.
So hopefully we can all get over it now and celebrate the sisters' relationship and their great tennis (although more core work may be in order if they want to beat Kim Clijsters again now that she's back on the pro tour).
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I remember realizing in middle school that almost ALL of the "popular" kids had an older sibling. I'm not sure why -- I hope I've been there for my sister to advise her against disastrous outfits and makeup in ways no one did for me, etc., but it is interesting to think about.
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I think it's because parents are harder are their first borns and slacker on the younger kids. They let a lot of shit go with the 2nd kids, probably more than they should...
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Meanwhile my little sister actually has always needed to be told to relax and work less hard. She's ferociously independent and has been a slogger all her life, as a hardcore dancer and now a medical student. I've seen her sit and study for 7 or 8 straight hours, whereas after 45 minutes I'm drifting off, experimenting with interesting new ways of sitting, drawing intricately-shaded portraits of my hand, that kind of thing... (yeah I make a great doctoral student). Maybe it's just a personality thing. The last thing my sister ever needed was a push from parents, except maybe to chill out and eat some cake.