FanHouse SerenaWilliams

The International Tennis Federation has completed its two-month "investigation'' into Serena Williams' f-bomb-laced, threatening tirade toward a line judge on worldwide TV at the U.S. Open. Her "punishment'' should come Monday or Tuesday.

I would give just about anything to see the notes from this "investigation.'' The quote-marks show that this was just a theoretical thing, anyway. As in, it took two months to find "justice.''

This whole thing has been a sham. Will Williams be suspended from the next major, the Australian Open in January?

"I don't think [an Australian Open ban] would make much sense, because it would penalize the people handing out the punishment,'' ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said. "For the grand slam committee to exclude her from a grand slam doesn't seem likely.

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The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged that it's too late to punish Andre Agassi for his failed drug test from 1997, darned statute of limitations. But WADA said it still wants some punishment, anyway. Maybe for Agassi's lies to doping officials, which he admits in his book? Maybe for perjury?

Doubtful. But I knew tennis would get its pound of flesh, anyway, as Agassi has embarrassed the sport's governing bodies. What I didn't know was how fast they would get that flesh.

Or that they would take it from Yanina Wickmayer.

She was banned Thursday for a year for a doping offense. It wasn't for failing a test, or apparently even for missing one, though details still aren't out. It was because she failed to report three times to doping officials over the past 18 months where she would be.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- The Williams sisters will end their season with another title matchup.

Venus Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 Saturday in one semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Championships. Serena Williams won the other when Caroline Wozniacki quit because of an abdominal injury while trailing 6-4, 0-1.

Serena, who secured the year-end No. 1 ranking this week, is returning to the final of the WTA Tour's season-ending championships for the first time since 2004. She was knocked out in the group stage the last two years, but was the only player to go undefeated through the round-robin rounds this time.

Manny Pacquiao will be honored for his humanitarianism on Nov. 24 in Manila, when the world boxing champion will be named a 2009, Gusi Peace Prize laureate.

"I am truly humbled by this incredible honor and I would like to thank the Gusi family and the foundation," said Pacquiao, 30, whose immense popularity in his country has reached Muhammad Ali-like proportions, in a press release. "To be included in such a group of accomplished humanitarians is beyond anything I ever dreamed of. They are inspirational."

In a sport that has had a serious gambling scandal involving suspicions of match-fixing, how are we supposed to take Caroline Wozniacki's match the other day?

I'm starting to wonder exactly how many tennis matches aren't really on the up-and-up. Wozniacki, who reached the U.S. Open final, led Anne Kremer 7-5, 5-0 Tuesday at the Luxembourg Open.

And that's when Wozniacki chose to retire from the match with an injury. No broken bones. No fall. She had won seven straight games and was four points from winning.

"The injury suddenly happened," she said.

No way.

BEIJING (AP) -- Serena Williams was knocked out of the China Open on Thursday, losing to Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) only days before regaining the No. 1 ranking.

Williams, who will take over the top spot in the rankings from Dinara Safina on Monday, looked sluggish in the first set before recovering in the second. Neither player was able to earn a break in the third set.

"I don't feel like I ever got into high gear," Williams said. "I ran into a girl today who has never played so good in her life."

The stakes go way up now.

Tennis' governing bodies have no way out of a racial mess over Serena Williams.

No. 1 Dinara Safina, a point of controversy over why she has that ranking in the first place, lost again Monday. And now, Williams has to win just one more match, Tuesday in China against a nobody, to finally regain her spot as No. 1 in the world.

Quite frankly, to use her own words, Serena Williams really is the best. She said so a few months ago, when the computer dropped her from the No. 1 ranking, and then embarrassed herself a few times, even losing to a journeyman hours after her self-proclaimed greatness.

But on Saturday, she proved it. She's right. Serena beat her sister, Venus Williams, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 to win Wimbledon.

Serena is the best.

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Serena Williams won the 2009 Wimbledon women's singles final Saturday, beating older sister Venus Williams 7-6, 6-2.

"She was too good," Venus said afterward. "She had an answer for everything and she played the best tennis today. So, congratulations."

In a classic Wimbledon semifinal match that left both players exhausted and the spectators exhilarated, Serena Williams beat Elena Dementieva 6-7, 7-5, 8-6 to advance to the Wimbledon final.

"It was really, really tough," Williams said afterward. "Elena played so well and we gave the crowd a wonderful match."

Dementieva played very well in the early going, and it looked like it was going to be her day. She broke Williams' serve in the first game, and although Williams returned the favor in the second game, Dementieva was strong throughout, winning the first set 7-6.

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