Friday, December 7, 2018

Sexism in Sports must Stop


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!
Image result for sexism in sportsThe 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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