There were no outbursts from Serena Williams here — at least on the court. She swiftly and, for the most part stoically, took apart her overmatched opponent, Urszula Radwanska, in straight sets. Afterwards, however, the women’s defending Australian Open champion pointedly questioned the fine given to her for threatening to shove a ball down a line judge’s throat last summer at the United States Open.
Serena Williams, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2009, is the top seed in Melbourne, but her U.S. Open semifinal defeat remains heavy on her mind.
Williams, who was making her first Grand Slam appearance since the profanity-laced outburst, said she believed the $92,000 fine was too severe, and suggested that it would have been less if she had not been a woman.
“I don’t know anyone who ever got fined like that, and people have said worse and done worse,” said Williams, who could have been suspended from playing here.
“I just thought it was a bit much, but that was that.”
Williams said she was not making excuses for her bad behavior, and said she was trying to turn the incident into a positive by raising money for charities, including the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Still, the world’s top women’s player would not let it go.
“Ninety-two thousand dollars is a lot of money to fine someone,” she said. “I always said what I did wasn’t right, but I turned that around and I’m actually raising $92,000 to educate ladies, women, also for my school in Africa.”
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