I did just catch the replay on ESPN.

My feeling in the Gonzalez - Blake incident at the Beijing Olympics SF 2008 is that it's possible, but not likely, that Gonzalez didn't feel a touch if the ball brushed him. I wasn't keen on Blake calling out Gonzalez after the match.

For today's incident, there is no way on God's green earth that Sanchez didn't know that the ball hit her forearm. She was taking evasive action - she'd played a dropshot, and the ball was hit directly at her. This, to me, is entirely legitimate. Once the ball bounced off Sanchez' forearm, she should have conceded the point. Serena Williams was entirely justified in complaining to the umpire, and feeling hard done by by both the official and her opponent. I'm still not a fan of continuing the discussion in the press conference - I think a player could say "from what I saw, the ball clearly struck her arm. But the match is over now."

In Rome 2006 F, Federer did indeed make an ironic comment to Toni Nadal in the stands, and he was asked about it in the press conference afterwards:

Q. In the sixth game of the third set, you said I assume to Tony Roche, "Is that all right, Tony?" Do you remember that?
ROGER FEDERER: That wasn't for Tony Roche. That was for Tony Nadal.
Q. Tony Nadal?
ROGER FEDERER: He was coaching a little bit too much again today. Yeah, I caught him in the act, so...
Q. Did that upset you a little bit?
ROGER FEDERER: Well, not the first time. I told him many times already, through the entire match in Monaco already. But it seems like they don't keep a close enough eye on him.

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=35944

I don't know if Federer ever made any direct complaint to any match official, and I've not heard anything but praise for Rafael Nadal's sportsmanship from Federer. Toni Nadal was very sporting in his acknowledgement of Federer's victory in Hamburg F 2007: the Federer family were just as sporting in their congratulations to Nadal after the Wimbledon F 2008.

I don't see this incident as having had major repurcussions, but for the record I'm not keen on any player carrying on an on court dispute in a press conference, be they Federer, Nadal, Blake, Serena Williams or anyone else. Once the match is done, win or lose, I don't think the press conference is the right place to have these things out. I think Roddick and Djokovic got this right after the USO QF 2007 - the two players had a talk after Roddick's defeat and Djokovic's on court interview with Michael barkan, but neither spoke of the substance of their discussion in their press conferences.

So we agree, after instant (slo-mo) replay, that she was hit. What does she do walking the grounds tomorrow? She can't flaunt the big bruise (large red mark at the very least). If she bandages it, well, that would be a give away as well. Maybe, long sleeves for the rest of her stay (oooh, not in that heat). This reminds me of covering up hickeys in the summer with turtlenecks....not that I would know, but I've heard others have done it.

MS could just as well have shielded herself with her racket. In fact, I was surprised she threw her arm up as a shield instead of at least trying for a volley.

Sandra, no doubt you have. I'm sure you've seen plenty.

I can only attest to what I've seen.

Yeah, Pspace. It's amusing to see how supposed tennis fans are outraged--outraged!--that players would dare drill volleys at their opponents.

Roger That, I think you might need to watch junior tennis if real professional tennis is not "genteel" enough for you. Horrors - players actually hit shots directly at each other at the net - this should be banned with boxing and cagefighting.

Sandra:

We get it. The Spanish lass was in the wrong.

That said, the female branch of the Spanish Armada should make it an official policy, when playing Serena, to hit drop shots, then drill Serena in her fat, ugly, underachieving head.

And, if Serena asserts that she didn't feel the shots to her head, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

No nerve endings in bone.

I've never seen Federer/Nadal or any top male player deliberately drill another player in the body. The only case I'm aware of is when Lendl drilled McEnroe(but that's forgivable).

Afraid I don't see the Cavs turning this game around. The Cavs aren't actually playing badly, except for LeBron in the 2nd Q. It's just that the Magic are shooting like the offensive beast that they are. Sux that we won't get to see the Kobe-LeBron matchup.

"why should she think about being honest after she had been hit? This is what passes for honesty these days."

Sandra, just curious, where is this line drawn? Honesty in the sporting environment can be a bit slippery. Do Serena and Nadal always call an opponent's shot good if it's incorrectly called out?

If Sanchez was asked about it by the umpire, and she lied, that absolutely stinks, no doubt, and she should catch grief about that.

But if we're going to crucify an athlete every time they don't volunteer complete honesty, whew, that's an interesting issue. Dwight Howard just hit the ball out of bounds, but the ref awards possession to Cleveland. Should Dwight tell the ref, no, no, it was off me.

TypePad must hate playground fights.

If I'm remembering right, this is where the extra information came from:
When Serena had her presser afterwards, she described her entire conversation with the umpire at the time. That included the ump telling Serena that he asked MS if she had been hit and she said no.

I would like to hear the umpire's account of this, but if there is one I expect it will be given behind closed doors.

Yup. And so do I. New Overflow post called into service. Try not to hit any shots directly at TypePad, OK?