Sexism: alive and well in women’s tennis

As can be evidenced by Serena Williams’s treatment at the hands of a very senior (male) umpire at the final of the US Open on Saturday.

First, she was warned for coaching, a venial sin committed by almost every coach of the top players, men and women, the world over. Think of Rafa Nadal, for instance, who was coached by his uncle Tony on almost every point he ever played. Did he get penalised for it? Rarely if ever is the answer. Then she had a point docked for smashing her racket and finally, having called Carlos Ramos a ‘thief’ for stealing a point from her, was penalised by giving away a whole game. As she was already 4-3 down with her opponent, Naomi Osaka, next to serve, this was as good as gifting the match to her Japanese rival. But would this have happened to a man, or even a white woman? I doubt it.

After the match the great Billy Jean King noted that when men show anger they are only called ‘outspoken’, or at worst ‘passionate’, while women are labelled ‘hysterical’. She could have added that in the case of a black woman, they would be called ‘out of control’. This last point was underlined by a female tennis player on BBC’s Today Programme this morning (I’m sorry, I don’t know her name) who used this exact phrase in describing Serena’s behaviour on court. This attitude is despicable, being not only sexist, but racist too.

Let us look at men players again. Take Djokovic, for example. He is a master of gamesmanship.  Bending the rules as far as he can get away with, he is still admired (and rightly so) as a master of the game, and officials customarily cut him a lot of slack. Or let us look at Nadal again. Now, Rafa is a divine player to watch, but also agonising because he takes so long between points. 25 seconds is what he is allowed, yet he nearly always adds 10 more to that. How often is he warned, or even penalised about this? About as often as he loses 6-love 6-love is the answer.

Tennis is an aggressive game. Nobody ever won a game of tennis by being timid. Serena can be pretty scary on court, but then what about Sharapova’s 100 decibel scream? Did anyone ever penalise her for that? I’m old enough to remember Margaret Court, who could be extremely unpleasant at times. But they’re white...

Pelagius says: Leave Serena alone! She is arguably the greatest woman player of all time, and she didn’t achieve that by being the shy, retiring type. OK, if she breaks the rules, apply the disciplinary rules to her, but make sure you apply them to everyone else too.