John Jeremiah Sullivan on Venus and Serena

You asked why people sometimes rooted against Venus . . . so I specifically answered that question (which had nothing to do with Serena).

Nobody could rationally justify rooting against Venus for her on-court behavior. People could VERY MUCH justify rooting against Serena for such.

Don't need to Google her. I'm pretty familiar with most Top 100 players.

We really don't need to stretch this point any more absurdly. The "beauty" factor really only applies to well-known players on the extreme end of the scale (real or perceived, I understand). Those (and a few others) mentioned above will always draw the "Will you marry me?" male fans.

The crowd will be rooting big-time for Stephens.

 

So there's a rooting pecking order in women's tennis. Just to get it straight, does beauty come before on-court behavior?

Does it go, in order of importance,

Beauty
On-court behavior
Grunting, or lack thereof
Sexiest Outfit



Wins



Country you play for

 

Luggy is killin' it in this thread. Massive propers.

 

What the fuck do you want me to say?

Two players are playing a match.

One may draw more support than the other. Or maybe not.

The reasons are varied. Star appeal. Sex appeal. Nation. Behavior.

And it's not just women's tennis. It's every individual sport.

Kim Clijsters received more support than Justine Henin. Both were No. 1 players from the same country. One was Miss Congeniality. The other was known for her gamesmanship. Obviously, behavior matters.

Anna Kournikova received more support than . . . everybody. Obviously, sex appeal matters.

Sloane Stephens will receive more support today than Tatjana Malek. Obviously, nation of origin matters.

Everybody has a different pecking order. On-court behavior ranks highly on mine. Might not matter at all to somebody else.

 

Donnie, thanks. I don't know what's gotten into me.

BTE, I wasn't meaning to come down harshly on you. I think the undercurrent here is race. The Williams sisters had an upbringing most of us will never even begin to understand. As such, they had a chip on their shoulders. Predominantly white tennis fans in a lilywhite sport looked for any excuse not to cut them slack. The problem fed itself on both sides. But to say it's all about pissy behavior and/or perceived lack of beauty ignores the element of race.

Fortunately, here in 2012, I think everybody's mellowed. I'd be shocked to see Serena lose it again. She seems so focused. As for the fans, we have a black President now. I think people want so badly to see Americans reemerge in tennis, that race just doesn't matter as much.

 

As much as I wanted to avoid it on this thread, I wonder if we'll ever transcend race when it comes to the Williams sisters.

Look at the flap over Serena's "Crip Walk" at the Olympics - three weeks ago.

 

Although it might be the case that being so focused is what leads to some of Serena's problems/outbursts, because she seems to have a Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant case of hypercompetitiveness, and when she loses or feels wronged, her bad side comes out. Richard Williams said when they first were on the scene that he thought Serena would have the better career because she hated losing more than Venus.

You could even argue, not without foundation, I think, that this is one more contributing factor for the anti-Serena sentiment out there: even apart from race (though I don't mean to discount that at all), people aren't used to seeing a woman acting in "Alpha male" fashion, for lack of a better term, like she does.

 

Great point. I'm trying to think of some of the other 'alpha' female sports figures and about their popularity. Navratilova was unpopular and alpha.

 

I think this is a bigger issue than race in the tennis world's view of the Williams sisters. Tennis has accepted black stars in the past and present. But Serena Williams is intense at a level few ever could match, and moreover, she's physically intimidating. Her broad shoulders and thick lower body put on display how strong she is. When you combine that with her brazen competitiveness, Serena emasculates men. That the Williams sisters have so openly embraced their sexuality through risque outfits only further alienates people. And then there's the feeling that they haven't fully invested in tennis, with side projects and skipped tournaments and long injury rehabilitation.

They're facing scrutiny male players never deal with, regardless of race.

 

This stuff is all so interrelated that it's kind of fascinating. I think the physical intimidation affects both opponents and fans: I would guess some people have a hard time rooting for Serena because, when she's healthy and has her heart in it, she really should never lose. I don't at all mean to discount the hundreds of thousands of hours of practice it took her to refine the skills necessary to play tennis at that level (one more layer of the onion: for some people out there, the insidious "blacks are athletes, whites are smart/scrappy" trope is in play as well). But Serena is, if we're being honest, easily the most physically gifted player out there in terms of combined speed and power - if all women tennis pros competed in a decathlon, Serena would be the prohibitive favorite. Add in the competitiveness when she's dialed in, and you have the best female player ever. As Wilt Chamberlain said, nobody roots for Goliath.

 

That's unquestionably a major factor. Think about the layers of criticism Chamberlain and Shaquille O'Neal faced for not meeting their infinite potential, even as they're two of the NBA's 10 or so most accomplished and greatest players ever.

 

After reading it, I was curious just how adherent the Williams sisters are to the way Witnesses lead their lives. I was surprised Sullivan didn't more dig into it. Maybe he doesn't know anything about Witnesses, but if he included it in his story, and the Witnesses are willing to rebuke Serena for something she did, and she's walking door to door, then it warranted a much deeper examination.

As an example: Witnesses are not supposed to stand for national anthems. They don't recognize them. So when Serena Williams is standing there on the Olympic podium with a gold medal around her neck, the national anthem playing, I'd be curious to know what she's thinking. Or, moreover, what she thinks of the United States, period.