Serena Williams has many people talking tennis.

Fans of the U.S. Open, which aired worldwide, caught Williams’ tirade. The female American tennis star threatened an official who called Williams for a double-foot fault in her semifinal matchup against Kim Clijsters on Sept. 12.

But while such diatribes are a regular occurrence in professional sports, members of the Iowa women’s tennis team said outbursts aren’t uncommon in college tennis, either.

Players have seen similar incidences before. Although, the Hawkeyes have yet to see a reaction of Williams’ caliber on a collegiate court, one where a player destroys a racket and intimidates an official.

“No, not like that,” Iowa sophomore Sonja Molnar said. “I’ve seen people throw their rackets and use profanity, but I’ve never been on a court where someone smashes the racket to the point that it breaks.”

Before Williams’ lashing out at the referee, she threw her racket and broke it, drawing her first code violation of the match.

“You kind of see stuff along that line, but obviously nothing that extreme,” junior Lynne Poggensee-Wei said. “That was kind of the low point. But it’s kind of the heat of the battle. You don’t really think about the consequences.”

Williams’ reaction to the foot fault ended her match against Clijsters. After the violation, she violently pointed her new racket at the official, used profane language, and threatened to shove a tennis ball down the line judge’s throat.

The scene earned Williams a second code violation, which subsequently cost her the match.

Following an initial $10,500 fine — $500 for a broken racket and $10,000 for her ensuing behavior — tennis officials are still determining whether to further punish Williams, handing over either a suspension or a ban in the 2010 U.S. Open.

“The only thing I’m firmly against is her reaction and the way she basically threatened the official,” Iowa head coach Daryl Greenan said. “I don’t blame the official for making the call, and I don’t blame Serena for being upset. But I think the biggest wrong about the situation was her reaction — or over-reaction.”

A foot fault in tennis is a tricky thing. Greenan said he sees foot-fault calls and some questionable calls at times as well. He said Williams’ argument was that she plays all year and rarely gets called for a foot fault.

Greenan compared the violation with ones in the NHL Stanley Cup finals and the NBA Finals, where referees tend to let players play.

Molnar thinks the Williams situation got out of hand, but wasn’t so sure about the call.

“It’s quite outrageous. I understand that everybody gets emotional, especially that close in a match,” Molnar said. “I don’t think it was actually a foot fault watching the video … I could see how she would be really upset about it.”

The incident has brought much attention to tennis this week. Men’s tennis icon Roger Federer also made a scene during the U.S. Open, questioning the time limit in his final match against Juan Martin Del Potro.

“It’s like they say in Hollywood, ‘Any press is good press,’ right?” Greenan said. “People are talking about it. It’s brought tennis into the spotlight. It just kind of happens to be a negative thing.”