All posts in Tennis

Martina Navratilova Aims For Cancer Recovery

By | April 7, 2010 | Tennis, Women's Sports | Comments Off

Martina_Navratilova-breast-cancer

Martina Navratilova, one of the all-time tennis greats, is battling breast cancer.

She announced April 7 that she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a non-invasive form of breast cancer.

She talked about the scary February day she received the news.

“It was my personal 9/11. I was shocked because I was so sure [the calcification] was benign, and I found out and I was devastated. Physically, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. I was useless.”

She said that her four-year lapse in mammogram appointments was a big mistake, but is thankful she returned when she did. She is expected to make a full recovery.

Let’s keep in her in our thoughts and ladies, don’t forget to schedule your next mammogram. Mammograms are recommended every one to two years after 50 years of age.

Dang, I didn’t realize that Martina was over 50.

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Azarenka – Izza gonna put on my earmuffs.

By | January 26, 2010 | Tennis, Women's Sports | 1 Comment

I’m watching Serena Williams play Victoria Azarenka. I think if Captain Kirk had an Azarenka handy he wouldn’t have had to time travel and steal our whales.

A Horse Is a Horse – Not a Female Athlete

By | December 23, 2009 | Talking Trash, Tennis, Women's Sports | 13 Comments

The second-most-notable female athlete of 2009 according to the Associated Press was the first female to win one of the most celebrated contests in her sport and has a perfect record, winning all 14 of her major competitions.

She is also the youngest woman to receive the honor, and at five years of age has accomplished all that she ever will in her sport and so has gone off to retirement.

Isn’t she pretty?

zenyatta_thepaddock

Right. She’s a horse.

Zenyatta, the first female horse to win the Breeder’s Cup championship, came in second on the yearly list of 2009′s most accomplished female athletes.

Did I also mention that she. is. a. horse?

First place winner? Tennis star Serena Williams, who made headlines herself this year on the court not just for fantastic tennis but for saying she was going to kill a line judge. 7th place? Another horse, Rachel Alexandra, who won the Preakness Stakes. The list is curiously not available in its entirety online, but other athletes who are not horses on the list include tennis player Kim Clijsters in third, Lindsey Vonn, who won her second consecutive title in Alpine skiing’s World Cup, in fourth place and Diana Taurasi, the WNBA’s MVP in fifth.

Look, I don’t know what’s going on over there at the Associated Press. I don’t know when an animal, who is trained and ridden by a male jockey to meet the challenge of being the fastest competitor in a race, became a true contender for a ranking like this.

And I like animals, enough to be concerned about the treatment of horses in racing situations, which is another post entirely (along with a post about how Serena Williams threatening to kill a line judge did not disqualify her from the AP honor either.) In fact, I like some animals better than many humans. That does not mean, however, that I believe animals should be rated on the same scale with people in terms of accomplishments generally reserved for, again, people.

How does Clijsters feel about coming in just behind Zenyatta? How do you compete with a person who’s not a person?

Some message boards are delighting in making jokes about Serena’s appearance and other references to women as horses, to which I can only say “nice, really nice.” One comment bemoaned the possibility of “feminists” getting upset because two horses took the place of two accomplished female athletes on a list of the best female athletes of the year.

This is in many glaring ways missing the point. Identified as feminist or not, it’s quite possible to find the inclusion of horses on this list odd if you consider that every other person on this list since it has been made has been, in fact, a person. And really, if it’s feminist to say that there is some commentary inherent in the inclusion of two animals on a list of the ten best female anything in a field where women are historically underrepresented and under-covered by the very media that made this list?

So be it.

And I’m even willing to take it a step beyond and say that no male racehorse – not Seabiscuit, not Secretariat, not Seattle Slew, not Spectacular Bid nor any other horse starting with an S that will help you win at Scattergories – has ever placed on the companion list of top ten male athletes, although Secretariat was ranked 81st on the AP’s list of top athletes of the 20th century.

Why now? Why two?

Mind you, Zenyatta’s jockey, Mike Smith, describes her in distinctly anthropomorphic terms:

What she’s done on the racetrack has proven how special she is. I’ve never been on something like this. It just doesn’t seem real. Whatever is in front of her, she seems to pass and do it with incredible ease, and in doing it, she has this personality…I think the fans appreciate the show she puts on. She’s so dramatic. She seems to give everyone a head start. She’s always come from last. And she’s been unbeaten coming from last. Do you know how hard that is passing every horse without getting stopped? She overcomes everything and does it with such grace and ease that it’s incredible.

And this all may be true, but she doesn’t do it without a lot of help from him. In fact, without him, she couldn’t do it at all.

Zenyatta is retired in California and as such could not be reached for comment.

Photo credit: Delmarscene.com

Ed. note: Zenyatta resides in California, not Kentucky, as previously stated. We regret the error.

Love may mean nothing in tennis, but hate will cost you at least 10 G’s.

By | September 14, 2009 | Tennis, Unsportmanlike Conduct, Women's Sports | 9 Comments

I come from a tennis  family. I received my first tennis racket and tennis whites from my cousins when I was 4 years old. Every summer, I lived and breathed playing tennis, whether it was taking my racket to a public park in New York City and hitting a bright yellow ball against a graffiti-ed wall or backhanding a volley with my dad on the court at our country house in upstate New York.  Knowing this, it will come as no surprise that some of my favorite summer memories involve watching tennis on TV (or the Telly as my family called it) with the whole fam damily. In particular the US Open was must-see tennis TV in our household. During this time, my dad and cousins would serve up the scotch, or the Tom Collins, and I would sip on my own special drink, a tonic water with a slice of lemon.  All of us would munch on an assortment of  gourmet crackers and cheeses, olives and crudite’ with the understanding that we would speak only during commercial breaks. When I got to high school I would joke that “Intennis” would be an acceptable term to use for our intensity when it came to watching any of the Grand Slams.When I got the chance at 15 to go with my mother to England for the summer, you bet your sweet arse I took the train out to Wimbledon all by myself so I could stand at center court and watch some of the greatest of the greats play ball.  Sipping a Pims cup, eating strawberries and cream. Ahhhh this was the life!

Despite my own interest in tennis, my sons really hadn’t developed the same affection for watching it on TV, however  after summer camp last year, my kids came back with a renewed interest in tennis. And I was of course very happy about it.  So over the weekend the kids and I were watching the US Open Women’s Singles Semi Final between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters Since my family is not as “intennis” about watching, we do talk during the matches. We discussed how Kim is a new mom, how she took a year off from playing and is now coming back and doing so well.  I am quite proud of my sons that they recognize women in sports as being equally impressive as men being on the court, field or diamond.   My children understand the great equalizer is as much about athletic  prowess as it is about sportsmanship (sportspersonship?), so you can well imagine my kids were surprised to see Serena Williams lose her shit on the court, not once, but twice.

When Serena lost the first set to Kim, she threw her own racket down and broke it.  Okay, well this isn’t anything new. I remember watching John McEnroe do the same thing in 1981 at Wimbledon. And the response from the officials to Serena’s outburst was to lob her a warning and play continued which historically is how such tantrums have been handled.  I explained this to my sons as they wondered why she wasn’t just told to leave the game if she couldn’t play nice. But then came the  “foot fault“  called on Serena.

My children and I watched as Serena cursed out the lineswoman, not once, but twice.   While the audio of her tirade wasn’t able to be heard, I would be kidding myself if I didn’t think my 9 year old and my 13 year old missed lip-reading the word “fucking” being said by Serena repeatedly. It didn’t go unnoticed by me, but  I waited to say anything until I heard an audible confirmation from the two of them that they had figured it out. “Mom, did you see what she just said?” Confirmation complete.    We all watched as Serena challenged the lineswoman, the Chair, Donna Kelso the Grand Slam Supervisor and Brian Earley the US Open Referee.  Visions of John McEnroe danced in my head. I remember watching him tantrum on the court many times, it was  afer all what he was known for, just as Jimmy Connors was known to have a potty mouth.   So as I watched what was unfolding, I was trying to think how my own parents addressed the bad behavior I sometimes saw when I watched Jimmy and John. And you know what? They didn’t say a thing to me about it.  Nope, they didn’t use it as a teachable moment, they did not discuss the replay.   I know. Sounds horrible doesn’t it as we look through today’s lens of overly intense parenting practices? But I assure you, I’m on it.

Basically it comes down to this, if you are teaching your kids right from wrong, they know it and can see it for themselves. Nothing tops personal experience and direct observation.  So, it was with this in mind that I said nothing to my sons about what they think they lip-read or what they saw Serena do. We did discuss a little bit about ”roid rage” and wondered together if that was what we were seeing in Serena, but at the same time hoped it was not the case. I listened as they both talked to each other about how even when under pressure, you just can’t say and do whatever it is you feel like doing.  Both of the kids brought up that Serena wasn’t respectful to the lineswoman and the sport in general.

When it was announced on Sportscenter that Serena had been fined $10,000 for unsportsmanshipconduct and another $500 dollars for racket abuse my sons reinforced my decision to not overparent them in the moment as they both chimed in simultaneously, “She deserved that.”   And that my friends, is a double grand slam in the parenting department. In lieu of a trophy,  I’ll just grab a tonic water and a slice lemon for old times sake.

Hot Chicks in Centre Court with a side of Racism. Wimbledon, I am so Disappointed.

By | July 6, 2009 | Tennis | 1 Comment

Beauty before talent. That is such an ugly phrase. I think everyone knows that it works that way in Middle School; it should not work that way at Wimbledon.

Yet it does.

Beauty of a player is among the things taken into consideration when deciding on the court selection at Wimbledon and it has been confirmed by All England Club spokesperson Johnny Perkins.

“Good looks are a factor,” said Perkins, and added
that court selection is “a great big mixture of where the players are
in the draw, who they’re playing, what their ranking is”.

- Women’s Tennis Blog

Wimbledon of all places! Of all tournaments! Wimbledon who has equal payouts for male and female champions. Tennis, of all sports… women’s tennis, who celebrated Billie Jean King for being able to beat Bobby Riggs because he was a man not because of her short skirts or her breasts or because she grunted like a porn star when she was playing a tennis match.

I am outraged. I know I should just let it go. The Wimbledon committee is probably going for television ratings and advertising revenue. I understand business, I understand that women’s tennis isn’t necessarily what people all over the world are choosing to watch this weekend.

Wimbledon promoters called it “The Battle of the Babes” when Victoria Azarenka, seeded 8th in the tournament, took on Cristea, seeded 28th, at Centre Court on Friday. The same day, second seed Serena Williams, undoubtedly one of the great players the sport has ever seen, was relegated to play her match on the No. 2 court.

The American superstar got lost on her way to the court and was 6 minutes late for her match.

Many
of the seats on Centre Court for the “Babe” match remained empty.
Die-hard tennis fans who came to the event seemed to know better -
which indicated the move had more to do with television ratings.

- Kate Nocera, New York Daily News

Maybe I am just shocked that they admitted it. Diane at Women Who Serve wasn’t surprised at all. She says:

Some of you may have seen the Daily Mail feature, “Babe, set and match: Why looks count for more than talent when Wimbledon decides which girls will play on Centre Court.”
The title of the story itself is sexist, since the majority of the
players are women, but one would not expect the British press to care
about that. It surprises me a bit that this story has gotten so much
attention…

Before I sat down to write this post I was talking to my mother-in-law about it. She was surprised, but then she brought up how beautiful and athletic the William’s sisters were.  I said “Yes, and they are also relegated to the second court because they aren’t blonde haired and blue eyed.”maria-sharapova-wimbledon

So here are two beautiful superstars. Venus and Serena Williams faced each other last year in the Wimbledon finals and they will do so again. Yet Serena’s match took a back seat to “The Battle of the Babes”. And why?

Megan has a guess.

This is wrong it so many ways, where do I start?  First of all, that
definition of attractiveness is the white, male All England Club’s
definition.  Venus and Serena Williams are some of the most gorgeous
ladies out on the court.  But see, this is about being blonde and
leggy.  If you’re not blonde and leggy, you’re not attractive.  Never
have been, never will be….

- Megan’s Minute

and so does Diane.

In other words, it came as no surprise to me at all to read about the
Centre Court selections; I find this news to be part and parcel of the
sexist culture of my nation and other nations that produce tennis
players, as well as the sexist culture of sports in general. As ugly as
the sexism is, however, there is more than sexism in play in these
selections. The “babes” selected to play on Centre Court–except in
situations in which the selections are default–like the “babes”
selected as the tour’s hottest women on the Australian Open website,
have one thing in common–their skin color. Serena Williams is not a
babe. Li Na is not a babe. There are a lot of people, incidentally, who
think these two women are beautiful, but they do not qualify for “babe”
status. And while I realize that consideration of beauty is very
subjective, it is hardly a coincidence that African American and Asian
women do not ever appear on the list. The world’s most beautiful
lesbian could be on the tour, too, and–if she were out–you can be
assured she would not be on the list, either.

- Sexism at Wimbledon – Not so Shocking

I agree with them.

It makes me sad. It makes me sick. Fortunately, for Wimbledon and for the WTA no matter who they put in the spotlight, the cream still rises and I will still be watching the Williams sisters battle it out. Even if the Wimbledon Committee would rather see Gisela Dulko play against Victoria Azarenka I can’t wait to see Venus and Serena again. They are the best and that is why I will be tuning in to the finals.

Originally posted by Sarah on BlogHer.com 7/3/09

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