ITF president says ban unlikely for Serena
Associated Press
Nov. 07, 2009 05:13 PM

Top-ranked Serena Williams will receive a hefty monetary fine but will not be suspended for her U.S. Open tirade, the president of the International Tennis Federation believes.

Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock is due to hand his recommendation to the Grand Slam committee, which will likely announce the sanction Monday or Tuesday.

"I don't think (an Australian Open ban) would make much sense, because it would penalize the people handing out the punishment," Francesco Ricci Bitti told The Associated Press on Saturday. "For the Grand Slam committee to exclude her from a Grand Slam doesn't seem likely."

The Grand Slam committee is composed of Ricci Bitti and the four Grand Slam presidents.

Williams was fined $10,000 after her profanity-laced, finger-pointing outburst at a lineswoman during her semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters in September. An eventual fine from the ITF could be much greater.

"A significant financial penalty makes much more sense. But it has to be significant enough for the fans (to appreciate) it," Ricci Bitti said. "Of course it may not be significant for Serena Williams, who earns tens of millions."

Ricci Bitti spoke at the Fed Cup final between the United States in Italy, which Williams and her sister Venus skipped.

The ITF president is also involved in a request by the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate Andre Agassi's recent admission that he took crystal meth in 1997.

Agassi wrote in his soon-to-be-released autobiography "Open" that he ingested the drug and then lied to the ATP to avoid a suspension after failing a doping test.

Ricci Bitti is also a member of WADA's executive committee.

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