After Serena Williams won win her 14th Grand Slam singles title over the weekend against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, I was left with the feeling that one has to admit that the general public—sports fans included—have been singularly disinclined to fully embrace the Williams sisters and their success in women’s tennis. It is not because tennis is necessarily a marginal sport—so is golf, but that hasn’t stopped Tiger Woods from recovering some of his former glory after falling about as far a star can fall, short of murdering someone. Everyone recognizes that Woods’ importance to the game is incalculable, and even his most snide enemies must confess that this is true. On the other hand, the Williams sisters have been not just the most dominant force in women’s tennis for over a decade, they are currently the only Americans on the tennis circuit who have had any kind of impact since Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi left the scene. Yet few people outside the tennis media seem to appreciate the Williams’ keeping the American end up—and this after Serena came back from two foot surgeries and lung and stomach problems that kept her hospitalized for months. Isn’t this the kind of “feel good” story the media likes?
What is the problem? It can’t be because Americans prefer the mostly eastern Europeans who dominate the women’s side. Some viewers may confess that a few players—particularly the Russians—with their blond hair and long and leggy frames titillate the senses, especially when their cocktail skirts bounce upward on a serve, and when they’re in a crouch position, they bare so much cleavage that you swear you can glimpse a—well, let’s keep this PG. But it’s still hard to be a fan of someone whose name you can’t pronounce, let alone spell. And after a while, they all start to look a little generic. Nevertheless, my suspicion is that since the audience for tennis is overwhelmingly white, that audience likely prefer their “stars” to be more like the Russians: Blonde, leggy and white.
Beyond the surface detail, can people feel further “distanced” or “put-off” because they sisters—especially Serena—have “attitude”? I doubt that most sports fans care enough about tennis to know what I’m talking about. At the 2009 U.S. Open, a lineswoman called a footfall on match point against Serena in the semifinals against Kim Clijster; Williams supposedly “menaced” the lineswoman, but it was a perfectly understandable reaction at such an absurd call at such a critical moment, as if someone was trying to be the third player in the game—much like a basketball official calling a foul during a rebound scrum after a missed shot as the buzzer sounds. In the finals of the 2011 U.S. Open, as if Serena needed more “help” in her struggling play against Samantha Stosur, the chair umpire awarded Stosur a break of serve when she called Serena for a “hindrance” rule violation. Williams smashed a forehand shot that Stosur had no chance of catching up to, which would have brought that particular game to deuce; but when Williams yelled “come on,” Stosur lunged to put racket on ball, which she did just barely managed to accomplish. But it was enough for the chair umpire to cite the “hindrance of play” rule, and Stosur received the point and the game. Williams threatened the chair with “You better hope we don’t meet in the hallway,” or words to that effect, and Williams has been paying for that comment ever since. Williams' critics have not mentioned that most people in the stands were also stupefied by the ruling, and the boos and catcalls from the stands were so ferocious that play was delayed for several minutes until the noise partially died down. And in the second set in this year’s Wimbledon finals, the outcome could again have hinged on yet another horrendous line call, when Williams hit an ace that was called out, but on replay was shown to be so far in that it hadn’t even touched chalk; instead of being rewarded the point and the game, Williams had to replay the point, and ended-up being broken and losing the set to Radwanska.
Reading some of the comments from “average” folk on the BBC website, many of the Williams “haters” commented upon her supposedly “graceless” demeanor, but my impression was that the Williams sisters inspire a visceral dislike from some people that one need not examine too closely. One person whose handle was “Desmond111” had a comment that was deleted for violating house rules; however it was not before another person who called himself “Lopezdee” called him out on his comment: “You must have hit your head on the floor when your mother gave birth to you ..... If not, you will know that calling another human being a gorilla has no place in our modern society.” While some complained about Serena’s “graceless,” “thuggish” play, a few thought “Venus and Serena have changed the face of Tennis. I love the way they just turn up and play - no pretense, just hardcore tennis and the fact that every year they make a mockery of the world rankings.” Still, a more common recitation was “I'm sorry but I just cannot stand Serena. She is the most arrogant player on the tour (both men and women) ever! The way she walks and expresses herself on the court like she is the queen and all must bow down to her. She is the most unworthy and worst champion ever. She is not an amazing player. She relies only on power and she is playing in the weakest era of women's tennis ever!”
The sisters have also been criticized for not taking their tennis seriously enough, especially in the past several years; the only time their names seem to pop-up is when they appear in a grand slam event. They have their line of clothes and jewelry, and tennis can seem to be almost a hobby rather than an occupation for them. Compared to other greats of the past, their Grand Slam wins are impressive, but even combined their tournament win total pales in comparison to others. Yet even if the sisters committed 100 percent of their lives to their tennis craft, I suspect that some would be little more than annoyed by more substantial success, for it would mean they would have to take a few minutes to consider what it means in the grand scheme of life. To such people, a couple of black female tennis players seem to have limited appeal outside a narrow constituency.
I confess that personally, I cheer for the Williams sisters for much the same reasons that I do for Woods’: They are a thorn in the side of the Establishment, of white supremacy, and while Woods is a master of immodest modesty, the Williams sisters are not modest at all. But why should anyone be upset by that? Behind the façade of “decorum,” European women tennis players are petty, conceited brats who nevertheless share a “bond.” More often than not, every time I see two Europeans play each other, when it’s over they meet at the net and give each other that double cheek thing, commiserating as if they’re just parting after an afternoon chatting it up in a café. On the other hand, every time one of them loses to one of the Williams sisters, when they come to the net to shake hands it’s like “Do I have to take two showers after this?” After the Wimbledon final, Radwanska had very little complementary to say about her opponent—in fact barely acknowledged her existence—instead concentrating her comments on her sad-sack self.
There has been some “debate” between tennis commentators, mostly former players (which shows you just how little professional sports journalists actually follow the sport) of the place that Serena—obviously with superior overall skill than Venus—has in tennis history. The debate hinges not necessarily on the number of victories but the dominance of play. Serena is arguably the most powerful and athletic player the game has seen; when her “game” is on, nobody (or at least her female competitors) can hit her serve. Many of her critics “blame” she and her sister’s success on lack of “competition”—much the same you might hear from Woods’ critics—but the fact is that none of the “greats” that preceded her, like Evert, Graf or Navratilova, would have stood much of a chance against either sister. It is true that it is a different game now, just like other sports have changed because of increased bulk; but the fact is that if the Williams sisters were transported back in time, they would be making mincemeat of the “competition” while putting in half the effort—and if the stars of yesterday were transported to the competition of today, they would be fortunate to find in a place in the top-50 of the rankings.
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