Hotheaded tennis star Serena Williams has been fined $2,000 for her outburst during yesterday's U.S. Open final. Video shows Williams berating the chair judge during a break in the second set, telling the official, among other things, "If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way, because you're out of control... You're totally out of control, you're a hater, and you're unattractive inside." Reuters reports that Williams has refused to apologize for the threats and insults, explaining that they were made in the heat of the moment. Also, this is America last time she checked—many brave soldiers have given their lives to defend her right to be rude. more ›

Tributes to those who were martyred ten years ago filled the sports world Sunday, but amazingly Major League Baseball repeated a mistake from that era. In 2001 the Mets wanted to wear FDNY and NYPD hats to honor the victims of 9/11 but MLB denied them permission. Those Mets wore the hats in defiance of MLB rules. Sunday, the 2011 Mets tried to make the same tribute with the same result. Most shockingly, it was the Vice-President of MLB, Joe Torre, the Yankee Manager ten years ago, who made the decision. more ›

The Mets broke their losing streak and got the weekend off to a good start with a 5-4 comeback win. Mike Pelfrey wasn't great, but he managed to make it into the seventh inning while allowing three runs. Justin Turner put the Mets ahead 4-3 in the fifth with a RBI double. The bullpen protected the one-run lead into the 9th, but Manny Acosta couldn't close the door on Chicago. With two outs, Darwin Barney singled home the tying run, but Acosta escaped further damage and the game went to the bottom of the 9th. Nick Evans led off with a single and was replaced by a pinch runner, Jason Pridle. Pridle advanced to second on a sac bunt, but Ruben Tejada lined out for the second out of the inning. The Cubs chose to intentionally walk Jose Reyes bringing Turner back to the plate. Turner delivered again, singling home Pridle with the winning run. more ›

For the second straight day, the Yankees fell in extra innings to Baltimore. This time, they lost, 5-4, when Scott Proctor allowed the winning run in the 10th inning. The Yankees led 3-0 and 4-1 but Ivan Nova wasn't great -- he isn't the second coming after all -- and Rafael Soriano gave up the lead in the eighth. The Yankees probably would have lost in nine innings if not for some egregiously bad baserunning by the Orioles. They had three guys thrown out on the bases in the late innings. more ›

A janitor at this year's US Open has been charged with swiping two laptops from the SmashZone "fan interactive," and a search warrant of his apartment in Corona, Queens yielded a half-ounce of crack cocaine, marijuana, a loaded 9mm handgun, and three other laptops that were reported stolen from the US Open last year. Yet another salient lesson in quitting while you're ahead. more ›

Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2: Rookie Ivan Nova won his 11th straight game and improved his record to 15-4 in a victory over Toronto at Yankee Stadium. Nova, who hasn't lost since June 3rd, fell behind early when the Blue Jays scored two runs in the top of the 1st inning. The Yankees were able to tie the game in the 3rd when Brett Gardner hit a two-run home run. Robinson Cano drove in Derek Jeter for the go-ahead run in the 5th inning and Mariano Rivera finished the game like he normally does, notching his 37th save of the season. more ›

Red Sox 9, Yankees 5: If Phil Hughes is fighting for his spot in the Yankees rotation, his performance against the Red Sox probably didn't help things. Hughes allowed six runs over 5 2/3 innings to drop to 4-5 for the season. Helping Hughes though is the fact that AJ Burnett pitches today in his own attempt to remain a starter. In spite of Hughes' efforts on the mound, the Yankees were actually able to take a brief lead in the 6th inning. Then Hughes pitched another 2/3 innings. The win put Boston up 1.5 games in the AL East. more ›

Leave it to the sport of super-shushing and scurrying little servant boys to demand the air remain rarefied enough for people to smack a ball back and forth over a net. more ›

Oh look out, scary Serena Williams went on one of her famous tirades today when she rolled her eyes after a reporter brought up her infamous 2009 U.S. meltdown! You'll recall that Williams blew her stack after a line judge made a call she disagreed with, yelling, "I swear to God, I'm f*ckin' takin' this ball and shovin' it in your f*ckin' throat… I swear to God." (The video has been pretty effectively suppressed by the USTA, but you can still watch it here.) She went on to lose the match and was fined $82,500 for what the Times described as "a shocking display of vitriol and profanity." But that's all ancient history! more ›

Last year, the "secret" tennis courts at Grand Central Terminal were eliminated to make way for a new Metro-North conductors lounge. However, there was enough room left over for another court and two hitting alleys, and the Wall Street Journal checks in with the progress, "Only in Manhattan, where indoor tennis courts are rarer than personal garages, would anyone sign up a year in advance for an hour of tennis. And only on this space-strapped island would they pay as much as $210 an hour for the privilege." more ›

Yesterday evening, defending U.S. Open champ (and part-time Jersey girl) Kim Clijsters defeated Vera Zvonareva to win the women's final. Clijsters, who also won the Open in 2005, said, "Whenever I step on this court, I don't know, it just feels like coming home." more ›

More fallout from the Thursday night brawl in the U.S. Open stands: The three fans have now been banned from the Open through the 2012 Open and they've all filed civil harassment charges against each other! The 27-year-old man whose cursing sent 49-year-old Tracey Falco and her 75-year-old dad Lawrence Burnett is now hiding out in his East Side apartment: The Daily News reports that Joseph Pedeville is "chastened" with his girlfriend coming to his defense, "He's freaking out. He didn't do anything wrong. Thank God, he didn't do anything wrong." more ›

The city is working out a contract to inflate giant bubbles over Central Park's tennis courts, then rent them out in the winter for equally inflated prices. The cost of operating and maintaining the 26 Upper West Side courts would fall to the contractor, as would profits, reports the Post, so no, this isn't the city's latest money-making scheme. So far it's unknown what the hourly rate will be (other tennis bubbles charge $28-$56/hour and the city says winter rates could be ten times greater than in the current permit system) but already community members are worried the the pay-for-play model will push the already elite sport out of reach of the everyman. more ›

An Upper East Side community group voted unanimously against a plan that would have allowed a cold-weather tennis bubble to operate year-round inside a tiny park tucked beneath the Queensboro Bridge. After a reportedly contentious hearing in which tennis players who supported the plan argued with baseball and softball players who said it would privatize public land, Community Board 8's Parks Committee voted en masse against the proposal. more ›

East Side residents are accusing the city of trading a precious bit of green space for a little bit cash. The Parks Department is considering allowing a winter-time tennis bubble to operate year-round in the tiny Queensboro Oval at the corner of 59th Street and York Avenue—meaning neighbors wouldn't be able to access the park tucked beneath the Queensboro Bridge unless they paid a fee. more ›

It was quite a year for sports in the New York City area. The Yankees won their 27th World Championship, two brand new baseball stadiums opened (a total cost of nearly $2.5 billion), and Martin Brodeur set the record for most wins in NHL history. There were some ugly moments too — Serena Williams' explosion at the US Open, the Mets (again), the Nets, the Giants, and of course that Tiger Woods thing that you can't escape no matter where you live. more ›

The AP reports, "Serena Williams was fined a record $82,500 for her U.S. Open tirade and could be suspended from that tournament if she has another 'major offense' at any Grand Slam in the next two years." During the semi-finals against Kim Clijsters, Williams had yelled at a line judge, "I swear to God, I'm f*ckin' takin' this ball and shovin' it in(?) your f*ckin' throat… I swear to God." She was initially fined $10,000 but Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock found Williams "violated the 'major offense' rule for 'aggravated behavior.'" Update: The NY Times says Williams was fined "a hefty $175,000," which will be reduced to $82,500 if she stays out of trouble for two years. more ›

We play tennis at McCarren Park a couple of times a week, so it's exciting to see someone trying to do something about those ridiculously busted old courts, which the Parks Department charges $100 a year or $7 an hour to use. But the folks involved with the McCarren Tennis renovation group aren't just demanding that the badly cracked courts get a long-overdue resurfacing, they've got much bigger plans. Those familiar with the park know that on weekends, the big concrete lot next to the courts is occupied by a crowd of, um, spirited softball players. Well, these fellows will be mighty interested to know that their tennis-playing neighbors have their eye on that lot, and are campaigning to have it turned into more courts! There is no way that happens without a riot, despite the fact that the entire area was originally devoted exclusively to tennis "once upon a time," as Brownstoner notes. We'll be sure to share that interesting bit of history with those softball gents this weekend, particularly the individual who inexplicably yelled, "HAMBURGER" over and over again for more than an hour during their game last Sunday. more ›

• Juan Marin del Potro, a 20-year-old Argentine ranked sixth in the world, unseated Roger Federer in Monday's final to take the U.S. Open crown away from the five-time defending champion. A day after del Potro demolished Rafael Nadal in straight sets, he rallied past Federer in five. He survived Federer's serving for the second set and a fourth-set tiebreaker before breaking the world No. 1 twice in the fifth set.

Serena Williams will return to Arthur Ashe Stadium this afternoon for the US Open Women's Doubles finals, less than 48 hours after the outburst that eliminated her from the singles draw and gave a whole new meaning to the Kanye West line "an ass like Serena." The USTA gave Williams a slap on the wrist yesterday—a $10,500 fine for misconduct—but said they are still reviewing tapes to see if a stiffer penalty will ensue. Some were calling for Williams to be kept out of today's match or at the very least stripped of her $350,000 singles prize money. more ›

The US Open once again proved itself as one of the most theatrical stages in sports last night during the women's semifinals where Serena Williams saw her chances for repeating as champion ended after losing her cool and going off on a line judge. After Serena became upset at the judge's unexpected call for a foot fault, she pointed at the official and yelled, "I swear to God, I'm f*ckin' takin' this ball and shovin' it in(?) your f*ckin' throat… I swear to God." As if the outburst wasn't sensational enough, Williams then got docked for a penalty point (she had already received a warning after smashing her racket at the end of the first set) which couldn't have come at a worse time—match point. That meant that the confrontation would be the final point of the tournament for Williams, sent packing by Belgian Kim Clijsters. Here's the extended play of the whole string of events, that we imagine left Eli Manning doing a nervous gulp of his Oreo Double Stuff. more ›

Last night out in Flushing Meadows, the US Open witnessed an event in sports that is relatively unheard of: Following Rafael Nadal's four set win in Arthur Ashe Stadium, a male fan rushed the court and planted a kiss on the Spanish superstar. What's more than that—Nadal seemed to have no problem with it whatsoever. The video below shows the modern day Morganno rushing the court as soon as Rafa went shirts-off time immediately after his match concluded. more ›

Yesterday, 17-year-old Melanie Oudin continued her surprise run at the U.S. Open, defeating 13 seed Nadia Petrova 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 and advancing to the quarterfinals. The crowds at Arhur Ashe Stadium have been rallying around the 70th-ranked Georgia native (for instance, listen to the crowd at match point, right before beating Maria Sharapova), but the attention is also a bit overwhelming. more ›

• Blue Jays 14, Yankees 8: Even a first-place team can look like last-place ones. All it has to do is start Sergio Mitre, play terrible defense and play backups for half the game because it has a day-night doubleheader the next day. The Yankees led this game, 5-4 at one point, but then Mitre and Mark Melancon had enough of that. Derek Jeter had three hits, leaving him three shy of Lou Gehrig's Yankees record. The Yankees start a long homestand with two against Tampa Bay on Monday.