During a semifinal match in Miami, her home of the last 13 years, Serena Wiliams was viciously booed at times by pockets of Romanian fans cheering on Serena’s opponent, Simona Halep. Though there were plenty of cheers for Serena too, it was a disappointing display from the Miami crowd, who never challenged the Halep backers and seemed apathetic to Serena getting booed and trash-talked.

Nothing against people who want to cheer their countrywoman loudly, but according to ESPN’s announcers, the trash talk was a little harsher than you normally find on the courts.

On one changeover, umpire Kader Nouni told Serena not to take it personally. But she seemed to. The world No. 1 lost her composure in the second set, as the Romanian fans were getting louder during her serves, in the middle of points and then cheering unforced errors or faults. Cheering is one thing, having no regard for an opponent is another. This wasn’t a Davis Cup or Fed Cup; there’s no room for that in a regular tournament.

Serena twice blew break leads and appeared less confident than she had been early in the match. Even when Serena appeared fueled by the anger in third set, she still couldn’t handle her emotions enough to serve out the match at 5-4. But Halep couldn’t consolidate that break, giving Serena a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win.

There’s always been chatter that the Miami fans are the worst of any American tournament. Indian Wells and Cincinnati are wonderful. New York can be obnoxious during the U.S. Open, but at least they tend to be civil and have the backs of the U.S. players. (One time, John Isner complained that this was the opposite, but I argued that fans were cheering for Frenchman Gael Monfils because the fans wanted more tennis/entertainment, not because they were rooting against Isner. And anyway some U.S. fans did have his back, rooting “U.S.A.” over the “Mon-fils” chant.) You might find people rooting for Roger Federer over a journeyman American, but that’s nothing like what Serena went through on Thursday.

It was a pathetic display from Halep fans, but there was no beef between the contestants. They shared a warm moment at the net after the match. Given their play, it’s a sight we’ll be seeing a lot in the next few years.