The double standard must end with
the different ways women and men are treated in the world of professional tennis.
Most recently is the way the best woman in tennis was treated in losing her
ranking because she had a baby and Serena being fined $17,000 for defending
herself from accusations from a line judge at the most important tournament of
her present career, the U.S. Open Championship final match loss. There has been discrimination faced by
American women champions in tennis that no man has ever endured. It all must
stop and stop now!
The fact is that Roger Federer yelled
at a judge during the 2009 finals saying, “don’t fucking talk to me” and he
wasn’t fined anything. Jimmy Connors called an official, “an abortion” during a
match in 1991 and wasn’t fined anything. None of those matches were even as important
as Serena’s title match that her win was taken away from her ruining her
impeccable career status. John McEnroe was more famous for his insulting antics
on the court than even his tennis abilities who also got away with all his
emotional outbursts.
Serena Williams is one of America’s
biggest superstar athletes of all time and she has been disrespected for her
sex and Serena’s on court performance like no other tennis athlete
has been. Her discrimination even out shadows the discrimination tennis
champion Billie Jean King had to endure in the 1970’s during her prowess in
tennis. Billy said, “When women react
adversely to a heated professional situation, far too often, we’re labeled
hysterical. That must stop. Tennis is a game, but for Williams and Osaka who
was handed the win, it’s also their job, their life’s work.”
The first violation came from the
umpire who accused her of getting illegal coaching during the match meanwhile
all she did was look at her husband and coach in the stand who made some
encouraging gesture. Serena said that she would rather lose than cheat. Serena has participated in thousands
of professional matches and never cheated. The second violation was for
smashing her racket on the floor. Other men smash their rackets all the time
and never get fined. Her third violation was imposed after she accused the
umpire of being a thief and taking her win away. That made here lose the point
and ultimately lose the game and ultimately lose the U.S. Open Championship.
The umpire awarded the game to
Osaka citing a verbal abuse call. And then each violation came with a fine.
$4,000 for the coaching violation, $3,000 for smashing her racket and $10,000
for verbal abuse towards the umpire. The total $17,000 violation fine is
outrageous and Serena said that she was being attacked for being a woman. This
harsh sentence is reeking with sexism. It is also sexist that men can have all
the children they want and never lose their ranking for it but when Serena took
time off to have her baby she was ranked Number ONE in the world. After giving
birth her ranking dropped to 453. No woman should ever be penalized for having
a baby. Despite her ranking loss in 2017 she has won every match and restored
her rank to 16 in the world. Her deserved win at the U.S. Open would have
brought her closer to being the number
one ranked tennis player in the world which she is and belongs.
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