For Sale: Serena Williams’s Broken Racket. Yes, That One.

Serena is a wonderful woman champion she's fighter and gets wrapped up in the moment. People need to give here a break. What's with the negative comments. Get a life all you jealous naysayers.

I hope that whomever profits off the auctioning of this item donate as much money as Mr. Holmes did.

Let them throw the racket in the trash. Nonsense knows no bounds it seems.

I would rather bid on Naomi Osaka's intact racket used to beat Serena and win the US Open championship.

I can picture that racket mounted on a board and hung over the fireplace in somebody's den. It has good colors, it would look nice, it would be an interesting conversation piece, and wiith a laptop handy you could always go on YouTube and watch the video of Serena throwing her tantrum and smashing it. Another collectible broken racquet to have in your den with accompanying YouTube video would be the one Nick Kyrgios smashed after losing to Roger Federer in the 2017 Miami Open, which was one of the best matches I have ever seen and I would argue the best racquet smashing of all time.

She should set an example by donating the racquet and $10 million to the homeless.

Osaka deserved that win, Serena deserved that call. The only controversy came from her arguing with the official, but I'm not going to disagree that her outburst started a few necessary conversations and hopefully changed the game in a good way. It's a shame that the conversation had to "begin" with such poor sportsmanship, and that Osaka had to just stand there while Serena threw her fit.

That racket is symbolic of Williams. Broken, still worth a fortune, and and not really usable any more.

Awesome! Maybe I’ll play like a Tennis God. M Oh - wait. Maybe I would play like a broken tennis god. I’ll pass on that racket.

Williams has displayed terrible sportsmanship often enough to lead this tennis fan to not care how many wins she has, and to be entirely disinclined to use her won/loss record as some sort of "get out of bad sportsmanship jail" card. Honestly, with all her wins, she's never struck me as particularly gracious in winning either. Rather, she's always struck me as somebody that might STRIKE ME, and that I should stay away from at all costs. The woman is as broken as that racket. And I wouldn't pay a dollar for either.

Does anyone else notice that the color of the grip is different in the photo of the racquet attributed to Goldin Auctions and the photo from the US Open?

Easy come, easy go.

"Chaotic", yes it was and , why it was "chaotic" mister Miller? Because the total lack of fairness from mister Ramos. So, mister Stuart Miller, a male writer, Serena was as you put it with no qualm, in an "outburst". As you know mister Miller... we, women... we are completely conditioned by our hormones, outbursts, cries, tantrums... You should be more careful with the use of words, words are no neutral as you know, and mister Miller you are talking about the best tennis female player ever.

Am I the only one who has noticed that the racket in the picture with Serena from the 2018 Open has white tape grip and the one in the picture of the auction racket has black?

tennis is a gentleman’s game, but for Serena, not a gentlewoman’s game

Weird.

I hope the profits from the famous racket go to charity.

The broken racket belongs in the tennis hall of fame in the exhibit on bad sportsmanship. At the US Open where the broken racket event occurred, Ms. Williams demonstrated substantial physical and mental weaknesses. She had still not lost all the weight she put on during pregnancy, nor had she regained the elite-level physical conditioning she had prior to pregnancy. She of course devotes time to being a mother, but her wealth (and her husband's) permit them to have nannies, cooks, assistants and other servants who allow her to spend so much time training and competing. However, regaining and maintaining top physical condition at the advanced age of 36 poses an increasingly difficult challenge for her. Serena also showed a lack of emotional control, breaking a racket and calling an umpire a liar and thief. She has previously exhibited--and been penalized for--emotional outbursts. Such behavior may occur when the player simply "loses it" or when deliberately trying to psych out an opponent, but in no case is justifiable. Denying she was coached from the stands was insulting to her fans and to the game, especially since the coach admitted the violation! Serena Williams was not defeated by an umpire; she was defeated by herself and by a younger, better-conditioned, better-behaved and better-playing opponent. If Serena cannot win and lose gracefully and with good sportsmanship, perhaps it is time for her to retire.

Cant imagine Serena Williams is too happy about this.

To anyone watching with knowledge of the game, the rule enforcement was not controversial, but entirely predictable. The umpire’s hands were tied; Serena’s coach admitted to the original infraction himself. Smashing the racquet was an uncontroversial second infraction. The controversy was stirred up by Serena herself when she cried racism! Sexism! I’m not a perpetrator, I’m a victim! That time she avoided threatening to do magic with a tennis ball using a linesperson as an assistant. Or whatever it was she once said. The omission is not enough for a pass.

I still remember this match and my sense of outrage that her ensuing antics stole away Naomi Osaka's rightful thunder when she won over Serena. Naomi Osaka was in tears at the ceremony, after she had played her heart out and she rightfully deserved to win. If I remember correctly, her coach was shown on the television screen coaching her, and he admitted afterwards that he had been coaching - his excuse being that other people do it too! The racket deserves a place of honour in a trash can - and is not worthy of an article in the New York Times.

What does it say about our culture when a souvenir of bad behavior has such a large monetary value? Like many tennis players who are at the top of their class, Williams has always thought she deserved special treatment. And it is when they are denied special treatment, we see their true nature. It's easy to win, but for someone at the top of their class, losing gracefully is much harder.