And then, this happened.
And then, Australian cartoonist Mark Knight drew this and the Herald Sun published it.
And then, tennis great Martina Navratilova wrote this.
And then, Stephen A. Smith said this on ESPN (I'll have to address this in another post).
Others have chimed in as well. One other article was noted as calling the men's US Open final "classy" in contrast to the "Serena Williams-umpire mess" that transpired in the women's final. Former tennis player and current NBC sports analyst Mary Carillo said, speaking of Williams, that "at her very best...I respect and admire Serena beyond measure...but at her very worst, and she was on this night, she acts like a bully." She went on to say that "a lot of the people weighing in and saying double standard, I'm saying, you know what? That is not the hill you want to die on?"
Excuse me, what?
I didn't exactly know what Mary Carillo meant by "...that is not the hill you want to die on?" so I looked up the term. It basically a sort of warning, like "do you really want to insist your point about this?" I would imagine Mary Carillo felt like Serena had no leg to stand on in her argument against a very real double standard because of the way she acted. Martina Navratilova wrote in the article noted above that "there is a huge double standard when it comes to how bad behavior is punished" in relation to men's and women's tennis in this case but that Serena Williams "got it wrong" in implying that "if men can get away with it, we should, too". She went on to say "The question we have to ask ourselves is this: What is the right way to behave to honor our sport and respect our opponents?"
Again, excuse me, what?
Yes, there are rules of etiquette in the sport of tennis as a whole. There are in every sport. When it comes to tennis, there are a number of disparities that can be pointed out in the way the men's game is disciplined versus the women's game. Almost everyone who has commented on this particular point has agreed to that. But some of those people, like Mary Carillo, seem to feel that Serena shouldn't be making that the basis of her argument, considering she has a history of "acting out" when she feels like she has been treated unfairly. But you know what Serena also has a long history of?
Being treated unfairly!
Serena has become the champion she is simply by will and skill alone. She really hasn't had the support of her contemporaries, because most of them have complained about how "unfair" they thought it was that she was stronger, faster and simply better than they were. She's been openly mocked by people she's called friends. She's been unfairly judged during tennis matches. The French Open recently instituted a dress code banning Serena's "catsuit" that she wore to help in her battle against blood clots. French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli mentioned Williams' outfit specifically and said "it will no longer be accepted. One must respect the game and place."
It has been very thoroughly documented that Serena Williams has been treated very differently throughout her entire tennis career. She's been drug tested far more extensively than her counterparts based upon nothing else other than her "imposing" physical appearance and subsequent power. She has been mocked for her appearance by rival tennis players. There's the Indian Wells incident in 2001 where Serena and her sister Venus drew the ire of fans, reporters and journalists, after Venus had to pull out of their semifinal match due to injury (Serena was 19 and Venus was 20 at the time). It was suggested then that their father, Richard Williams, was dictating which one of them would win the matches they played against one another.
Serena has managed to still dominate a sport that was never designated for her well past what most would consider her prime. At 36 years old, she was on the cusp of winning her 24th singles major championship, which would have tied Margaret Court for the most, not just in women's tennis history, but in tennis history altogether (Roger Federer holds the men's record at just 20).
She has been called a diva. She has been called difficult. This weekend, it was implied that she was a cheater, when it has been noted that "coaching" from the stands is not only commonplace, it has been generally accepted. She's been labeled classless.
Why?
Because she is a Black Woman dominating a sport that was never meant for her or anyone who looks like her. The sport never accepted her and they are ready to move on from her.
The only problem is, Serena ain't ready to go.
The demise of great Black athletes in sports like tennis, golf, baseball and other American and global sports that have yet to fully embrace them are always anticipated. Golf accepted what Tiger Woods, the golfer, brought to the sport. More exposure, more advertisement dollars, more viewers and higher ratings. They never really accepted him as a Black human being, though. Once his star dimmed, once is human flaws were exposed, once his driver and his putter began to fail him as well, the world's use for him was done. The golf world began looking for it's next big white star because, frankly, they never wanted him in the first place. The same goes for tennis and the Williams sisters, but much more so for Serena. Serena's star was much brighter; the advertising world embraced her as did pop culture. She kept winning but also kept enduring the ills society kept heaping upon her. Each time Serana was injured, analysts wondered if she would come back and continue to dominate. Each time, with each passing year, she did. When she took a year off to have a baby, many analysts thought that would be the end once again. It wasn't. When Wimbeldon granted her special seeding for the tournament, taking her pregnancy into consideration, many felt she was being granted an unfair advantage (in 2017 Maria Sharapova, returning from a 2 year ban for testing positive for a banned substance, was granted a wild card for the US Open which happened to be the 10th wild card she received since her return from the ban). This year, she came back and continued to dominate and made it to the US Open Final against Naomi Osaka. Maybe she was over confident, as were many of Serena's fan present at the match and watching on television (myself included). Anyone who has seen Serena knows she is a fierce competitor.
She cracked. Not under the pressure of losing a match she felt she was supposed to win. She cracked under the pressure of being superhuman but no longer being able to just play tennis in the face of constant mistreatment. The double standard was staring her in the face, for her as a woman and as a Black athlete. She already knew what was going to happen because it had already been happening to her for her whole career. The backlash was going to be severe. She was going to be blamed for taking the spotlight away from a burgeoning star, another woman of color. She was going to be made out to be the villain and her point was going to be lost on her actions.
And yet, she saw the importance of having to act within the moment. This was way bigger than her and her so called "righteous indignation". This was about right versus wrong on so many levels. This was about Naomi Osaka not ever having to go through the things Serena has gone through and was going through at that very moment. Serena has been having to be the better person in the face of a sport trying to dictate the way she is supposed to act her entire career, while other white players past and present, men and women alike, have been able to just be themselves.
I, personally, am proud of her.
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