Serena is a good player with a bad attitude

Serena Williams won the women's U.S. Open title Sunday, in a three-set thriller over No. 2-ranked Victoria Azarenka. Williams came back from losing a second-set tiebreaker to win the match 7-5, 6-7, 6-1.

First off, let me be clear about something: I wasn't rooting for either player. In a time when "screaming/shrieking" is a major problem in women's tennis, in my opinion, Azarenka is one of the worst offenders. It's constant, prolonged noise with her on seemingly every point of the match. Serena has her own issues which I'll get to later. While both of these ladies definitely have athletic talent, it's the sportsmanship I have trouble with.

With the win in the nearly three-hour match, Williams won her 17th Grand Slam title, as she chases the greats Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who each have 18 Slams. Sunday's title match was also the longest women's championship since 1980 when they started keeping track of such things.

Competitive match
No. 1 Williams may have pulled off the win, but she was far from perfect and it showed. After a close first set, she struggled in the second to close out the match. She served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set. Azarenka ended up coming back from two breaks down to win the set in a tiebreaker. It was the first set Williams dropped in this year's tournament.

And she was mad. Williams threw her racquet at her tennis bag during the changeover following the second set. Of course, I'm sure she was frustrated, like any player would be. The difference is when things aren't going her way, she makes it very obvious. She's so used to cruising right along and steamrolling opponents that I think she just doesn't know how to handle it when either her opponent steps up her game or she starts making errors.

Williams also had two foot faults called on her by the same line judge. That brought up memories from the 2009 semifinal between her and Kim Clijsters when Williams told a line judge: "If I could, I would take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat." The remark cost her the match, and she didn't immediately seem apologetic for her words.

A little breezy
The conditions on the court were quite windy during the match, especially at first. Williams seemed to get quite annoyed with the wind a lot. I knew that if she lost the match, she'd have an easy excuse in the wind as to why she wasn't at her best. That's really been my problem with Williams for awhile; when she does lose, she usually comments that it's because of her poor play rather than exceptional play from her opponent.

I don't like playing tennis in windy conditions either. But you just have to adjust and know that your opponent is facing the same battle. It might not make it easier, but that's just the way it is.

Williams had a bunch of momentum in the second set. She was up 4-1 and it looked like the match would end in straight sets. When it's working for her, she gives off a calm, yet dominant demeanor on the court. She almost looks angry sometimes. Nothing wrong with that.

Liking flipping a switch
I just have a problem with her sportsmanship because of how she acts the minute the tide starts to turn. She looks up to her box in frustration, throws her arms in the air, tosses her racquet. Not that she's the only player to do some of these things, but I've just seen how consistent she is with this behavior.

It makes me really wonder what she'll be like the next few years when, like Roger Federer, her dominance will start to fade. How will she react when she starts getting ousted in the early rounds of Slams? I can only expect it will be a continuation of what we already see when she's down in a match.