Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe says tennis officials have waited too long to suspend 11-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams for her outburst at the U.S. Open in September.

“The opportunity for a suspension of any sort has passed,” McEnroe said in an interview today in Alpharetta, Georgia. “If it had happened, it should have happened right at the U.S. Open. To suspend her now, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

The Grand Slam Committee, which is comprised of International Tennis Federation President Francesco Ricci Bitti and the presidents of the sport’s four Grand Slam tournaments, will likely announce its decision regarding a possible fine or suspension for Williams in the coming days.

Suspending Williams for the Jan. 18-31 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the 2010 season, wouldn’t be fair to the tournament, McEnroe said.

“For a first offense, to suspend her at the Australian Open, you’re penalizing them for something they really had nothing to do with,” he said. “It obviously was outrageous what she did, but it was really the first time anything like that has happened. If you look at the history of suspensions in tennis, they’re generally from a second, third or fourth offense.”

Brother’s Outburst

In 1987, McEnroe’s brother, John, was fined $17,500 and suspended for two months for an outburst during a third-round match against Slobodan Zivojinovic in the U.S. Open. McEnroe was cited for three separate offenses during that match. By that time in his career, McEnroe had been penalized a total of $80,500 for a variety of on-course outbursts.

Earlier this month, Bitti told the Associated Press that Williams will likely receive a “significant” fine, instead of being suspended.

Williams had already been fined the on-site maximum $10,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct and $500 for racket abuse by the U.S. Open referee in September.

Serving to stay in her semifinal match with Kim Clijsters, the eventual champion, Williams was two match points down after a foot-fault call on her second serve at 15-30. She turned and verbally abused the lineswoman who made the call and was given her second code violation of the match, after smashing her racket at the end of the first set. The penalty cost Williams a point and the match.

Criticism

Her outburst, and the American’s initial refusal to apologize to the line judge, prompted criticism.

Williams’s conduct was “inappropriate and unprofessional,” Stacey Allaster, chairman and chief executive officer of the WTA Tour, said in a statement at the time.

Two days after the outburst, Williams apologized to the lineswoman, Clijsters, the U.S. Tennis Association and tennis fans for what she called “my inappropriate outburst.”

Williams is the all-time career prize money leader on the women’s tour, winning more than $28.5 million in her 14 years as a professional.

Because of her status, McEnroe said Williams might have received preferential treatment by being allowed to play in the U.S. Open doubles finals after the incident.

“If another player did something like what she did, they may have been defaulted right out of the tournament, right on the spot, for singles and doubles” he said. “Did Serena get treated differently? Maybe. That’s not to say it’s right or wrong, it just is what it is.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Buteau in Atlanta at

Last Updated: November 12, 2009 16:27 EST