A sobbing Serena Williams accused Justin Henin-Hardenne of "lying and fabricating" during their ill-tempered French Open semi-final on Thursday.
Williams was angry that Henin-Hardenne did not allow her to replay her first serve at an important point of the third set during her 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 defeat by the Belgian in front of a hostile crowd at Roland Garros.
At 4-2 and 30-0, Williams hit her first serve into the net after Henin-Hardenne held up her hand to signal she was not ready but the umpire missed the Belgian's gesture and ordered the American to take her second serve. Williams then lost the game.
"I was a little disappointed with her," Williams said. "It wasn't the turning point of the match, I should have still won the game, but to start lying and fabricating is not fair.
"People want to win these days but this is just a tournament and I'm looking forward to next time already."
Williams broke down in tears at her post-match news conference when asked about the behaviour of the Parisian crowd, some of whom cheered when she missed serves and booed her throughout.
"I'm not used to crying, I'm sorry," she said, wiping tears from her eyes, her voice choked with emotion.
"It was just a tough crowd out there today, really very tough. It's the story of my life. It's a little difficult. All my life I have had to fight.
"It's just another fight I'm going to have to learn to win, that's all. I've just got to keep smiling. It was hard. She started out really strong and from the first point they were all over her to do well.
"It was hard to get in rhythm once they got started it was hard to make them stop."
