Serena Williams Is Today’s Muhammad Ali

[Surya Gayatri]

There are numerous articles—terrific articles—defending Serena Williams against the racism and sexism that have long stalked her career. This will not be one of those articles. As long as gutter invective is hurled at Serena, there will always be a need to defend her—and by extension stand up for everyone who feels the primary sting of these attacks. (J.K. Rowling is even standing up for Serena, adding a new dimension to her #blackgirlmagic.) But, just as I wrote last week about not merely “defending” women’s sports but actually going on “offense,” we need to be similarly aggressive in stating factually just who Serena is becoming before our very eyes. If our eyes remain narrowed in a defensive stance, we could be missing a transcendent chapter in sports and social history beginning to coalesce.

Serena Williams just won her 21st Grand Slam. That’s the same number every other active women’s player has collected combined. In her last 28 matches she is 28-0, and at the US Open this August, Ms. Williams will be favored to win the sport’s first calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf did it 27 years ago. At 33, Williams actually seems to be gaining strength, and as John McEnroe said to ESPNW’s Jane McManus, among women, “she could arguably be the greatest athlete of the last 100 years.” I think this even understates her case. She is our Jordan. She is our Jim Brown. She is our Babe Ruth, calling his shots. She is no longer content to dodge bullets, but understands how to stop them. Serena is that rare athlete who has not only mastered her sport. She’s harnessed it.

 She has been a voice for women’s pay equity in the sport, backing her sister Venus’s powerful push for economic gender justice in a sport that at one time paid women with bouquets of flowers. Most compellingly, as the Black Lives Matter movement has attempted to focus the nation on both police violence and the injustices that surround our system of mass incarceration, Serena has chosen to partner with the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that fights for prisoners’ rights amid the racism that pervades our criminal-justice system. In a move as audacious as it was affecting, she even tied her return to Indian Wells, a tournament she had boycotted after being showered with racist catcalls in 2001, to the raising of money for the organization. Using boxing as a platform for these kinds of politics amidst the 1960s was certainly legendary. But doing it in 2015 in the world of tennis? It’s simply above and beyond, like clearing a hurdle while wearing cement shoes.

After her Wimbledon victory, Serena Williams was asked which athlete she admired the most. She said that it was Muhammad Ali. Not for his boxing but for “what he stood for” outside the ring. For years people have asked who would be “the next Muhammad Ali.” If we dare to lift our heads, it will be clear that she is right in front of us. In the years to come, we may need to change the question and ask who will be “the next Serena Williams.”

http://www.thenation.com/article/serena-williams-is-todays-muhammad-ali/

__________________________

Very good read about this astonishing young woman's significance to the sports world and beyond.

[underahedgerow]

1. I think it's possible, that more than just being a black woman, she is a woman treading in the

footsteps and on the paths previously only trod by men.

That she is ethical and kind, feminine, strong and ambitious, accomplished and very intelligent, casts a lot of shade over, well, pretty much any male athlete since Ali.

When she steps onto the court, it's always like the scene out of Gladiator when Maximus steps into the arena and surveys the crowd. She is there to do battle as, until now, only men have done since time began.

Basketball, tennis, boxing, football and baseball players in jail, involved in criminal behavior, throwing horrid tantrums on the court/field, committing battery, rape, assault and even murder. Bicycle and marathon competitors jacked up on 'roids and whatever else; million dollar sports 'heroes' acting like fools flashing cash, going bankrupt, crashing cars and running with strings of barely legal girl friends... and then we have... Miss Serena Jameka Williams.

She's silly when she wants to be, knows how to have genuine good clean fun, is a pleasure to be around and absolutely mesmerizing on the court when she's on her game. She keeps her private life private and promotes and lives a healthy lifestyle filled with family, a few close friends and low key romantic relationships.

She embodies everything most male athletes in her league -- and there aren't many to begin with - do wholly as the opposite.

I think that bothers her haters the most... Not so much that she is a strong black woman, but the fact that she is a strong woman, and she's not making the male half of the athletes look too good right now. They want her to be bad, they want her to be rude and caught up doing drugs and making crappy life choices, but that's just not going to happen.

It's a different world for today's men, and I don't know if any of us has a clue as to what the future brings. Let's hope that it brings us more and more Serena's, because the world is a better place with people like her setting the example.

[Surya Gayatri]

3. ^^^This!^^^

"Not so much that she is a strong black woman, but the fact that she is a strong woman, and she's not making the male half of the athletes look too good right now."

Hence, the superficial crap about being "unfeminine", "masculine-looking" etc. She makes most male sports figures and their prima donna ways, look like the spoiled brats they are: Tiger Woods comes to mind.

[taught_me_patience]

7. Ethical and kind?

How about the time she went on a tirade against line judge in the semi finals of the US open and was completely unapologetic about it? Or how she never seems to give credit to her opponents when she loses, and has been rightfully been labeled as classless or sore loser at times.

[underahedgerow]

8. Then clearly you haven't watched her play very often.

The line judge made a bad call and had been riding SW during the match, and had historically given her a hard time in previous matches.

This was her apology; you might have missed it; "I want to sincerely apologize FIRST to the lineswoman, Kim Clijsters, the USTA and mostly tennis fans everywhere for my inappropriate outburst," the statement said. "I'm a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit when I'm wrong. I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it's not the way to act -- win or lose, good call or bad call in any sport, in any manner."

And she always congratulates her opponents most graciously. Do you want her to hurl over the net and hug them? It's a tennis match, not a sleepover.

If she could ever be a 'sore loser' it's not that she is angry at her opponents, it's that she is disappointed in herself. There isn't anyone on the planet who expects more from SW than herself, and she sets her personal bar very, very high.

Critiquing her entire career on one incident 6 years ago, considering her maturity, accomplishments and just amazingness today seems kind of random. It's not about the battle, it's about the war.

[taught_me_patience]

21. Ok then, how about the 2011 US open finals

where she berated the head umpire.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/845098-serena-williams-classless-antics-at-us-open-an-embarrassment-for-tennis

or getting called out by Jason Whitlock after the Olympics:
"What Serena did was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church," Fox Sports' Jason Whitlock wrote on his blog. "Serena deserved to be called out. What she did was immature and classless."

How about when she didn't give credit to Razzano after getting bounced out of the French?

How about not giving credit to Henin losing to her in the French: Serena: "Nothing worked today. You just have days like that. I don't know what it was. There's really no explanation for it... I just pretty much stood back and let her take advantage of me. And I feel violated. All she had to do was show up."

[underahedgerow]

29. I don't have a problem with that confrontation. SW always yells 'come on' at herself, sometimes as

congratulations, sometimes as a big self push when she's not getting it over the net and getting frustrated at herself. I don't think I've ever seen her yell it when she misses a good shot from an opponent, which is rare.

The ump had busted her earlier for yelling 'come on' and it was a repeat, and I would have also thought the ump had issues. Why doesn't she have the right to voice her opinion? Doesn't she have the right to speak up if she feels the umpire is being unjust? I think she does. Maybe she 'shouldn't have', but as an ethical person and seeing something as being unjustified, then she'll speak up. Some people have referred to that as being 'uppity'...

As far as Razzano, she's ranked #168, so yeah, if 'all she had to do' to win that day was show up if SW was having a really rotten day, then that's nearly a compliment. She was being kind to the other player and brutal on herself. Hardly a serious matter.

Here we have an accomplished woman, the top athlete on the planet, who's lost her temper or vented her frustration maybe a half dozen times in some 15 years after hitting millions of balls and playing thousands and thousands of matches.... and you choose to focus on the few times when she was having a bad day.

We're all human and we can't all be absolutely perfect every single moment of every single day. Her accomplishments far outweigh her faults.

[sufrommich]

11. She's a tempermental tennis player?

Why,that's practically unheard of.

[taught_me_patience]

22. If she's tempermental, then it'd be wrong to call her "ethical and kind"

thanks for helping me make my point.

[LanternWaste]

23. Do we often use one incident to paint an individual's temperament, or only when it validates our bia

Do we often use one incident to paint an individual's temperament, or only when it validates our biases? "shrug:

(the "thanks for making my point" leads me to believe the second may be more indicative of the self-validating bias so many require...)

[underahedgerow]

32. You enjoy your point. All you gotta do is show up. n/t

[taught_me_patience]

33. Well played :-)

I'll give credit where credit is due.

[uponit7771]

24. Perfect wasn't included in the discription

[taught_me_patience]

35. I'll give my positive and negative descriptions

Positive:
Intense
Ultra-competitive
Diverse (Has a lot of interests)
Power
Winner

Negative:
sometimes classless in defeat. Often doesn't acknowledge opponent's play
Surly: Sometimes crosses the line with unsportsman-like behavior
Suspicious (PED use)

From what I know about her, she has a complex persona. I generally have favorable opinions of her.

[bigwillq]

2. I love Serena. She is amazing.

Really want to see her win the calendar slam!

[ProfessorGAC]

4. As I Said In Another Post in Another Thread

She is best woman tennis player ever, and i was a big Martina booster. Add to that her savvy and it's no wonder she makes the dough she makes. She has the bully pulpit, and she's not afraid to leverage that.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. How many young girls are making their way to the tennis court to follow in her brilliant footsteps?

She is an illustrious spokesperson and model for women in sports and for the AA community.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Geez, I Hope Some!

I hope some young girls of any color are seeing her as someone to model.

[Fast Walker 52]

5. very cool-- have always admired her

now, even more.

[alarimer]

9. I cannot stand tennis as a sport, but she is definitely a role model.

And tennis is actually one of the few (the only maybe) where women are paid the same as men and where women have made the most gains.

[sufrommich]

10. She gets the same cleverly disguised accusations of "uppityness"

that Ali got too.

[malaise]

12. No she isn't

I love Serena but there is one Ali - h transcended sport because of his political convictions and his stance against the Vietnam War. Serena has never made an explicit political statement.

[Surya Gayatri]

15. Point taken. She's never "put her toe" into the political waters, aside from AA issues.

Perhaps she doesn't want to politicize her sport. Maybe she'll be more outspoken when her tennis days are over.

[malaise]

20. Not if she remains a JW - don't hold your breath n/t

[stevenleser]

17. You beat me to it. Sports talent and achievement wise, I think she equals him. But in the ways he

transcended the sport to make important stands and contributions to politics and humanity, she hasn't done anything like that, at least not yet.

Considering what she has accomplished, the door is certainly wide open to her. She is still young. She may or may not want to do those things and that's up to her.

[cwydro]

26. Good point malaise.

I think she's been wise to stay out of political waters.

[PoliticAverse]

27. Indeed. Ali was perhaps the most recognizable person in the world at one time. n/t

[malaise]

37. And that was before cable or the internet

Ali was simply 'the greatest'!

[Eleanors38]

28. Ali went to jail for what he believed. At the height of his career. nt

[WinkyDink]

31. No, he did not go to prison. He was stripped of his title, but no incarceration.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/muhammad-ali-refuses-army-induction

http://www.factmonster.com/spot/malitimeline1.html

[Eleanors38]

34. Thanks. I stand corrected.

[mythology]

13. I would argue she in some ways she's better

She's never called an opponent an Uncle Tom for example.

Mohammed Ali did a lot of good, but his use of racial taunts is often forgotten.

[Surya Gayatri]

16. She's most certainly more 'polite' and soft-spoken than the 'Greatest' was.

[stevenleser]

18. I think some of that was to hype the fights. Boxers and MMA folks trashtalk each other before fights

all the time to try to get people to buy tickets or Pay Per View.

I recognize that Ali also did that to get into his opponents heads before the fights, but I dont think any of it had malicious intent. Of course, the recipients may not have seen it that way.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

19. I am very proud of Serena!

She is fabulous!

[Jester Messiah]

25. I covet her arm definition.

At my height of weightlifting (not very high, mind you, but personal best) I couldn't begin to approach guns like hers.

[WinkyDink]

30. I have admired MA since he was Cassius Clay. But surely there were heroic and principled athletes

prior.

[Facility Inspector]

36. Not until they make a Hannah Barbera cartoon about her

or put her on a lunchbox.

But seriously, Ali sacrificed a lot for his convictions and his associations during a very tulmutous and deadly time for outspoken African Americans. I think it's great that she honors a true American hero.