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"Svetlana Kuznetsova beating Elena Dementieva" might make for a nifty haiku. But it didn't make for a particularly gripping women's final at the 2004 U.S. Open. Far more memorable was the quarterfinal dust-up between longtime rivals Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams.

To refresh: Early in the third set, Williams struck a backhand that was well within the lines. Inexplicably, chair umpire Mariana Alves overruled the call and deemed the ball "out." With admirable restraint, Williams argued the call to no avail. It was, by any definition, a horrendous piece of officiating. And while one bad call does not a match make, the blunder (along with a ghastly 57 unforced errors) played no small role in Serena's defeat.

Alves' handiwork provoked all manner of postmatch discussion and speculation. Why would a chair umpire overrule the far sideline on a ball so clearly in? Should Capriati have conceded the point to her opponent? Is there, as Serena suggested, a "conspiracy" against the Williams family? What's more, the call might well be the catalyst for introducing instant replay to tennis.

Since we're all about cool analysis -- not hot judgment -- here at the Blog, we invited Terry Bailey, a longtime tennis official, to take some questions. Working his 19th U.S. Open, Terry was stationed on Serena's side of the court at the time of the controversy.

Q: Why didn't the Far Side Line umpire who made the call approach the Chair and explain that the ball wasn't even close?

A: She made the call (signaled good) and then made eye contact with the Chair. She told me that the Chair quickly pointed with her hand and said "Out." Now this was a very, very quiet call that the Chair made. None of the officials on my side of the court heard any call from the Chair. When the Chair announced the score -- "Advantage Capriati"  all of us (on Serena's side of the net) thought that the Chair had just made a scoring error. However, there was nothing for us to do because Serena went straight to the Chair to get the matter settled. Because of the rain the next day I was able to watch the USA replay. There is one brief moment with the camera on the Chair answering Serena that she (the Chair) called the ball out. By the way, the USA TV Crew --Tracy Austin, Ted Robinson and John McEnroe -- caught none of this. They all wanted to make all sorts of comments without knowing what had happened.

Q: Should Capriati have conceded the point?

A: I wished that she had. I believe that sportsmanship at so many levels of all sports has gone away. I am sure that she (Jennifer) knew the ball was in. I looked over at her face as Serena was arguing with the Chair and she had quite a grin going. It was a major mistake on the Chair's part. However, once the Chair makes the call -- the ball is out or the ball is good -- that's it. No one (except the players) could do anything about it.

Q: Instant replay?

A: I am for it. But we must be fair and able to do it on all courts. There must be no doubt in the accuracy and the maker must be able to guarantee that the system will not fail.

Q: What do you make of the USTA's decision to apologize to Serena?

A: Well, the standard had been made at Wimbledon this year with Ted Watts. I guess from now on Chair umpires will be made to write letters to the losing player when they make mistakes. Who knows? Maybe the players will have to write back to umpires when they find they were wrong in their behavior. As far as the umpire's lounge, most people felt bad for Mariana. No one wants to make mistakes. Any official who says that they have never made a bad call and ... well, I've never worked with anyone like that.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.