Just Like Clockwork

Although I've never much cared for either Williams sister or their play in tennis, I was pleased that Serena Williams came through a potentially deadly medical condition without permanent harm and that she regained her health well enough to compete.

But with the usual metronomic regularity, Ms. Williams managed to say something dumb and quash any marginal goodwill I had for her by complaining about where she would have to play her next match at Wimbledon. She claims the move to Court No. 2 instead of Centre Court was sexist, that the men wouldn't have had to move because of scheduling changes or whatnot. She pointed out that she and her sister Venus had won more Wimbledon's together than most of the other players in the tournament, apparently as a justification for her belief her match should not have been moved.

We can set aside whether or not Ms. Williams is accurate about whether or not men's matches would be moved, although considering how often rain messes with things at Wimbledon and causes tournament officials to scramble to get matches played in time to finish in two weeks I'd bet she's wrong. And we can leave aside whether or not she's accurate about how the wins she and her sister have posted stack up against the number of wins by other players -- on this one, she may very well be right because she and Venus Williams have won a lot of tennis championships as individuals and as a doubles team. And we can leave aside the petty suggestion that the number of wins should merit some kind of special consideration in scheduling which matches will be played on which courts.

The part that made me hope for an early Serena Williams exit was the idea that being forced to work her way through the crowds of people -- some of whom had paid money to see her play -- was an indignity. Ms. Williams, 29, sometimes speaks of retiring soon. Not soon enough.