Serena Williams has a strong claim to be the best female tennis player in history. There is no doubt that, as an African-American woman of size, she has been subjected to a lot of unwarranted racist and sexist abuse throughout her career. As a result, she has a large group of admirers who are willing to defend her vocally regardless of the circumstances.
The fact is that Serena behaved boorishly during the U.S. Open final and deserved to be punished for it. Not every episode involving an African-American operating outside the rules is an example of speaking truth to power. Not every African-American athlete is Muhammad Ali, or John Carlos, or Colin Kaepernick.
Donald Trump once said, and correctly so, that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without losing some of his supporters. The blue team needs to maintain a higher standard than that.