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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.”
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….
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.
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.
I just read an article on ESPN where Chris Evert said that the grunting in women’s tennis was getting out of hand.
I didn’t want to say anything. I love women’s tennis, but now that Evert and Martina Navratilova are openly talking about it I don’t feel like I am judging female tennis players quite as much.
But really? If my husband was watching Wimbledon in the living room and I was standing in the kitchen I would think he was watching porn. (or playing Tomb Raider, Lara Croft moaned that whole game, that shit is irritating)
Ladies, can we take it easy? We’re not animals and this isn’t Cinemax after dark.
Shahar Pe’er won’t play in the The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this week. She wasn’t injured. She wasn’t sick. She didn’t have a family emergency. She was not on vacation.
She didn’t play because she was denied a visa into the United Arab Emirates. She is not a criminal or a dissident.
She was denied the visa because she was from Israel.
I’ll give you a second so that you can freak out. I know I did.
Then I’ll let you read the statement released by The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. (After this you may require another moment)
*Public sentiment remains high in the Middle East and it is believed that Ms. Peer’s presence would have antagonized our fans who have watched live television coverage of recent attacks in Gaza.
*Ms. Peer personally witnessed protests against her at another tournament in New Zealand only a few weeks ago.
*Concern was raised about her well-being and her presence triggering similar protests. Given public sentiment, the entire tournament could have been boycotted by protesters.
*We do not wish to politicize sports, but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the region and not alienate or put at risk the players and the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have here in the UAE.”
Seriously? I personally feel that the best judge of how safe it is for Shahar Peer to compete in a tennis tournament would be Shahar Pe’er herself.
Or possibly her mother.
But in no way do I feel like the government of The UAE should deny her a visa because they are worried about her safety. It sounds to me like The Emirates are concerned about their own safety.
I’m not saying it isn’t fair for a country to deny a visa based on safety concerns but in this case it denies her access to her source of income. I also have some issues with the Women’s Tennis Association not coming out more strongly against this injustice.
So, Shahar Pe’er will not be playing, but guess who will? Andy Ram! Guess where Andy Ram is from… you guessed it Israel. After pressure from Tennis:
No player, who qualifies to play an ATP World Tour event, should be denied their right to compete on the basis of ethnicity, nationality or religion and we are happy that the Dubai Tennis Championships and the UAE have shown that they share that view.
Well, after pressure from the ATP who run the Men’s Tournaments The UAE caved and issue the male tennis player a visa to play in the men’s tournament.
The ever graceful Shahar Pe’er called this a great victory and looks forward to playing in the Dubai tournament next year.
I call it sexist.
Yes, I fully recognize the anti-semetic aspects, but I will leave that to you to discuss in the comments.
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