Wimbledon is over once again for the year. The English contingent were almost as hopeless as their Football counterparts, although to be fair, none of them were really expected to do very well.
Andrew Murray was a Brit, until he lost, when he reverted to chippy Scot. Why, there was even talk he might not bow to the Queen !! I mean, really, the moody ingrate.
As usual, a William's Sister won the Ladies Final, once again proving that they bestride the game of Women's Tennis like colossi (or at least Serena does). And that got me thinking, as I was watching a little of the final, why it is that there seems to be this grudging acceptance of her dominance, when in the Men's game, Federer and Nadal are lauded as genius' and never gathering the same level of opprobrium as either of the William's sisters, and especially Serena.
It comes through in the very phrases and words used to describe her and her game. And they all seem to stem from the premise that, being a muscular, large, black lady, in some way she isn't entitled to be so good, so overwhelmingly powerful and better than the examples of "pure femininity" beloved (in a slightly creepy way) of old school tennis watchers. Numerous references to her power, her bludgeoning serve and forceful ground strokes, seem to me to be tugging at the vaguely disquieting notion that, as a woman, it is somehow vulgar that she displays the fact that she is better, fitter stronger than the rest.
Contrast this to the slightly effete drooling over the powers of Federer and Nadal. Power here is seen as a good thing; winning multiple titles the stuff of real champions. The discourse reminds us constantly of the grace and skills of Federer and the brooding, Majorcan menace of Nadal. No one says they are boring and repetitive. It's as if, in some way, her dominance is bad for the game, whereas theirs is the mark of genius. .
I wracked my brain to see if I could come up with an answer but I'm pretty sure, and I think it's somewhat shocking, that the reason Serena doesn't get her just desserts and is not lauded as an all time great is purely and simply down to snobbery and, dare I say it, a dash of low level racism.
So she's black, from the wrong side of the the LA tracks. She didn't come through the fresh-white-bread tennis schools of The Hamptons or Martha's Vineyeard. Her old man is a crazy guy who, for some reason, somehow, managed to coach two of his daughters to greatness without a single coaching badge, whilst dodging the gang-land bullets of Los Angeles. You can just see how it must begin to get up the establishment's nose.
The girls selected their tournaments, and still do so today. The remarkable thing is that Serena Williams has played 2 tournaments this year, both majors and won them both. She can't be bothered to schlep around the world playing second rate tournaments just to keep her ranking up. She knows she's the best, so why bother ?
Lastly, she's black and blessed with a full figure. I imagine, for an elite sportswoman, that this takes a lot of effort to keep trim, the muscle on and the fat off and keep up the massive level of aerobic fitness it requires to move herself around court, pulping the pretenders who enter her domain. She's not one of those auto-bot East-European waifs that seem to appear with monotonous regularity, treading a well worn path from Europe to the circuit via Tennis School in Miami and dropping off their personality on the way. And I think the cognoscenti just donlt like it.
So I say, fuck it ! I declare Serena William's a hot, Amazonian Goddess; an absolute genius on court, the best woman player ever, by some margin, and I think she's due some recognition and respect.
And if you donlt give it to her, she'll crush your puny body between her thighs like you are made of matchsticks.
And it'll serve you right.
