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TIME’S
COVER STORY REVIVES DEBATE
Is
the race card being played?
By
Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
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©
TIME 2001
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FLUSHING
MEADOWS, N.Y., AUG. 28 – Time
Magazine came out this week with a cover story on Venus and Serena
Williams and it is causing quite a stir in tennis circles. Part
of the article dredged up old quotes from earlier in the year
when the two Martina’s – Martina Hingis and Martina
Navratilova – intimated that the sisters play the race card
on tour.
From
a press conference during the spring, the article quoted Hingis
saying, “Being black only helps them. Many times they get
sponsors because they are black. And they have had a lot of advantages
because they can always say, ‘It’s racism.’ They
can always come back and say, ‘Because we are this color,
things happen.”
Among
the many quotes regarding the siblings that the magazine used
from a Navratilova press conference at the Amelia Island tournament
in April was “I think they’ve been treated with kid
gloves. If Mr. (Richard) Williams had been white and done that
victory dance in front of Lindsay Davenport (when his daughter
Venus won Wimbledon in 2000), he would have been reprimanded much
more. People have been afraid to criticize them because they don’t
want to be called racist.”
On
Monday at the Open, Hingis explained her quote, also making note
that while she speaks English fluently, she sometimes fails to
understand the nuances of the language and unwittingly says the
wrong thing. Having been at many Hingis press conferences through
the years, tennisreporters.net is inclined to agree with
Hingis that she on occasion doesn’t fully understand the
question posed or actually answers a question with what she truly
means.
“Well,
I’m sorry if I hurt anybody’s feelings with that, but
I think at that time I meant it probably not always in the same
way,” Hingis said. “I think I was right at that time,
but it doesn’t mean it’s against everybody. I just maybe
said something which is not, maybe, politically correct, but I
don’t know. I don’t know all the laws, all the rules
what are going on in this country. I mean, if you expect that
from me, it’s too much.”
DAVENPORT
ON RICHARD'S VICTORY DANCE
After
taking a 6-2, 6-3 first round win over Andrea Glass of Germany
on the opening day of the U.S. Open, Lindsay Davenport discussed
some of these issues, including the on court victory dance that
the patriarchal figure of the Williams family performed to honor
his daughter Venus.
“Oh,
I can’t imagine if my dad got out there and danced what you
guys would write,” Davenport said to the media. “But,
you know, people have always not criticized Richard Williams that
much. I don’t know what their reasons are – I’m
not in the media. So, you know, he probably gets away with more
than others.”
Davenport said that Navratilova had a little discussion with her
about the dancing incident, telling the Southern Californian that
“she would have gone up and punched him. I said, ‘I
wish you had been out there instead of me.’”
A three-time Grand Slam champion – the 1998 U.S. Open champion,
1999 Wimbledon victor and the 2000 Australian Open titlist –
Davenport said that the Williams sisters aren’t the only
players who receive a free pass from the media.
“It’s
the same way about (Anna) Kournikova,” Davenport said. “I
mean, you guys say, ‘What about this?’ always trying
to get us to say something (about her). No one does it to her
either, for the most part.”
Davenport,
who claims she gets along just fine with both Venus and Serena,
as well as with Anna, doesn’t believe that the three stars
get preferential advertising deals because of their status.
“I
mean we have a lot of athletes in this country that are getting
great deals from Marion Jones to Anna Kournikova,” she said.
“I think everyone’s over the race thing in the corporate
world. At one point I think the corporate world was afraid of
gay and lesbian players and afraid of black players. But it seems
to me that everyone’s playing a lot more equally now than
10, 15 years ago.”
As
for the Williams’s, Serena Williams stated her own belief
as to why she gets big endorsements after scoring a three-set
first round victory over Anca Barna of Germany at the Open on
Monday evening.
“As
for being black and getting more endorsements, I wouldn’t
know anything about that,” Serena said. “I think I get
endorsements because I win, because I work hard, and because I
go out there and have a good attitude. I go out there and smile.”
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