Serena not thinking about '09 Open tirade

Serena Williams is a long way from her controversial exit at the 2009 U.S. Open. A long way.

A profane tirade directed at a lineswoman ended Williams' semifinal match against Kim Clijsters. A penalty point assessed for unsportsmanlike conduct also was match point, leaving Williams no choice but to shake Clijsters' hand, leaving Clijsters and the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd bewildered.

It's been two years since she was at Flushing Meadows. Asked Monday what she remembered most about the way her last Open ended, Williams responded: "You mean the singles or doubles?"

Questioned further, she said: "I just remember I lost, and that was that. I got really popular. A lot of people were telling me they thought I was super-cool, that they'd never seen me so intense. So, yeah, it was awesome."

Williams was fined $82,500 and put on two years' probation for Grand Slam events for the outburst, precipitated when the lineswoman called her for a foot fault on her second serve when she was trailing 15-30 in what would be Clijsters' match game. She was not assessed the penalty point specifically for the tirade, but because it was her second code violation of the match. Earlier, she was cited for racket abuse after slamming her racket down in disgust.

Although the crowd was in shock at the time, two days later, it seemed that most fans had moved past the incident. Serena won the doubles title with sister Venus, and when television commentator Patrick McEnroe attempted to question Serena about the incident, he was lustily booed.

There was one final question Monday about the incident: Did she learn from it?

"I don't think about it," Williams said. "Are you still thinking about it?"

She was thinking, instead, of her opening match against Bojana Jovanoski of Serbia Tuesday night.