extremely bitchy and incredibly clever

As I write this - between the points - I am witnessing the most compelling tennis match that I ever witnessed in my entire life. It is the US Open 2011 women's single finals. Serena Williams vs. Samantha Stosur. The first set was a powerful demonstration of Stosur's aggressive and concentrated domination of the game and, respectively, Williams. Stosur obliterated the shit out of her oponent and won the first set 2-6 after just 31 minutes. Williams had no foot on the ground even when serving for the second set when she had a curious idea. It is break point for Stosur. She returns Williams's serve to the far left corner and Williams does the same when she - ball about exactly over the net - gives a little high-pitched shout. It is loud enough - as women's in-game (exactly now, after 1:13h the match and therefore the women's championship is over) shouts go - for everybody to hear, and also for Stosur to be distracted and mishit the ball. What was peculiar about Serena's shout, though, was that it was designed to break Stosur's concentration. Shouts normally come either when hitting the ball, this has to do with breathing technique and releasing power mostly, or to bring yourself back on track, to aquire or regain a level of concentration that is needed to turn the game around. And that it did. But more so because it was neither when she hit the ball nor after she lost or won the point but right before Stosur was about to hit that little yellow fucker.

The umpire then called point Stosur which meant she got her break - although she didn't get the ball across the the net anymore - because Serena's cry was against the rules, which I think was the perfectly right decision. But Serena was unhappy with that decision and struck up a little dispute with the umpire and then the audience chimed in, whistling loudly and aggressively. For about two minutes. When Stosur finally decided to go on and serve despite all the whistling and shouting, they quieted themselves just to roar up again, when Williams got the point. The trick was done. With Stosur's concentration completely broken and a roaring audience behind her, Serena immediately got the re-break and, following her serve the next game, lead for the first time after the very first game in this match. They played the most amazing points in this stage of the game.
The end of the story is that Stosur came back, big time, and eventually won the match and thus the tournament and thus her very first grand slam title, after 1:13h with 2-6, 3-6. That was the best tennis match I ever saw.