There seem to be a lot of angry athletes and managers at the moment and I don’t quite understand why.

Serena Williams went viral over the weekend when she snapped at a reporter following her Australian Open victory over Lucie Safarova in the second round.

The reporter described her performance as scrappy which did not sit well with the US star.

“I think that’s a very negative thing to say. Are you serious?” she asked the reporter.

The reporter replied that it was just his observation but Williams was having none of it.

“Well, you should have been out there. That wasn’t very kind. You should apologise. Do you want to apologise?”

Under pressure, the reporter said sorry and Williams went on to describe why the performance wasn’t “scrappy.”

As a journalist who has had to interview players and managers after wins, losses and draws, it can be difficult to tell someone that you felt they were below their best.

But that is part of the job and these people need to understand that.

I’m sure they do and being criticised after a win is bizarre and tough to take, I get it.

But when an athlete like Williams has set the bar so high, you can see why a match in which she made a high number of unforced errors would be perceived as scrappy.

“Thank you very much,” Williams said after the reporter apologised. “That was a great performance. I played well. She’s a former top-10 player. The last time we played together was in the finals of a grand slam.

“You know, it’s not an easy match. She’s a really good player. You have to go for more, which obviously makes a few more errors.

“So, yeah, I think it was overall a really good match, on both of our ends.”

Once Williams explained the reason for the errors, the unexpected mistakes made perfect sense. But it also made perfect sense for those watching to describe the performance as poor.

Maybe the journalist could have phrased the question better, asking Williams if she felt the performance was scrappy instead of giving his opinion straight off the bat.

However, I have found that even if you ask a manager or player if they felt the performance was bad that you can get the same reaction.

As journalists and fans, we are not out there week in week out. We have no idea what it is like to have millions of people analysing your every move.

Imagine if someone critiqued your every mistake just minutes after you made it. Telling you that you are bad at your job and in extreme cases, suggesting you be fired.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is experiencing the same thing. Regardless of the result, the English press are bit by bit destroying his credibility as a world-class manager.

In Spain and Germany, his tactics were called into question but in Britain it is his personal character.

He is waking up to headlines calling him a fraud, journalists belittling his past achievements because he is struggling in the “best league in the world.”

That must be quite the adjustment to make and no wonder he is short and snappy with the media at the moment.

British journalists have this habit of revelling in other people’s failures and at times it can be quite sadistic.

They pick on the weak and once they break them, refuse to relent and you can start to see why some players and managers refuse to talk to the press.

The former City boss Manuel Pellegrini would sigh when he sat down for press conferences and then give short, boring and nondescript answers when interviews started.

Notice there wasn’t an outpour of tributes when the Premier League and League Cup winning manager departed at the end of last season.

A few journalists said he was treated unfairly, the way in which his successor was announced half-way through the season, but overall there was a sense of good riddance once the Chilean left.

Journalists were clamouring for years to get Guardiola to ply his trade in England and now he is here, are making it their mission to prove he was never any good.

Sure, City are not playing the scintillating football that Barcelona and Bayern Munich played under the Spaniard but they were when he first joined and their 2-2 draw over Tottenham on Saturday was another peak behind the curtain as to what City are capable of under their current boss.

I am in no way saying that athletes should never be criticised or that they shouldn’t get angry when they do.

However, I do feel like some abuse their power to attack anyone that dares question their game or credentials.

Unless everything falls perfectly into place and a team/athlete has the perfect game, there will always be someone who questions what they saw.

I’ve even seen managers and players criticise their own performances after a solid victory.

There is always room for improvement and sometimes a journalist will call it as they see it, that doesn’t mean they deserve to be attacked for having an opinion.

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