Cornet shrugs off sexism storm
NEW YORK: Women and men may receive equal pay for work at Grand Slams but a double standard that surfaced at the US Open when Alize Cornet was slapped with a code violation for changing her shirt on court continued to spark outrage over equality on Wednesday.
Following the incident, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) was in full damage control mode defusing a controversy that erupted on Tuesday after the Frenchwoman noticed she had put her shirt on backwards off court during a heat break.
When she realised her mistake, Cornet walked towards the back of the court pulling off her top, briefly exposing her sports bra, before slipping it back on the right way round and drawing a code violation from umpire Christian Rask.
The decision to penalise Cornet triggered a social media storm with many people labelling the umpire’s decision as sexist. Male players frequently change or remove their shirts between games and often sit shirtless for extended periods of time in their chairs during changeovers.
Cornet said she was surprised to wake up on Wednesday to a full-blown controversy and attempted to downplay the incident. “For sure, the women are treated a little bit differently,” admitted Cornet, who ended up losing her first-round match to Sweden’s Johanna Larsson.
Realising it had stepped on a public relations landmine, the USTA was quick to issue a statement saying the code violation was wrong.
While Cornet was willing to extend the USTA an olive branch she was far less forgiving to her own tennis federation which recently introduced a dress code for the French Open that will ban Serena Williams’s black catsuit.
“What Bernard Giudicelli said about Serena’s catsuit was 10,000 times worse than what happened to me on the court yesterday, because he’s the president of French Federation and because he doesn’t have to do that.” Results: (Standard X): 1. The Cathedral & John Connon (12 MP), 2. Gurukul The Day School (9 MP), 3. Thakur Public School (6 MP); (Standard VII): 1. Don Bosco High School (12 MP), 2. M.K.V.V.I., Borivali (10 MP), 3. Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidyalaya (8 MP); (Standard VI): 1. Bombay Scottish, Mahim (10 MP), 2. Gopi Birla Memorial (10 MP), 3. MKVVI, Borivali (9 MP); (Standard II): Hiranandani Foundation School (12 MP), 2. Hill Spring International ‘A’ (9 MP), 3. Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu (8 MP); (Standard IV): 1.
Khar Gymkhana Open Handicap Snooker Tournament results (Pre-quarters): A Raghuvanshi (Hindu Gym, +20) bt A Bagri (ECC, +30) 3-1 (94(49)-49, 27-104(42), 92-42, 87(37)36); A Gandhi (Otters, +10) bt H Kotwani (Hindu Gym, +30) 3-1 (90(47)-45, 74-65, 47-81, 103-52); M Bhavsar (KVSC, +25) bt A Mehta (NSCI, +45) 3-2 (92-85, 63-99, 107-85, 77-92, 103-71); P Basantani (Ulhasnagar, +40) bt M Bhogle (JVPG, +35) 3-1 (122-99, 81-93, 96-56, 98-74)