Only a man could forget when women ruled tennis
OF all the sports platforms from which to suggest that women “go down every night” on their knees and “thank God” for male counterparts to whom, they owe, in effect, their livelihoods, the last one we might have expected it from was tennis.
Because if there were a court presiding over global sport, the matter of gender equity as it applies to tennis would for years have been settled law.
During the Open-era of spiralling commercial gain, Chris Evert brilliantly made that case, forever paired with Martina Navratilova, along with Steffi Graf, Venus and SerenaWilliams, and Monica Seles, among others.
Raymond Moore is South African. His comments inspired Navratilova to say, in a text message: “It would be hard to imagine any women wanting to go and play at Indian Wells if Moore stays as the tournament director.”
He stepped down as tournament director of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after his controversial comments about equal pay in tennis.
He also apologised for his statements, which seemed intended on one level to pay tribute to the long runs at or near the top by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Good for him, but from what kind of throwback value system did such language originate?
The comments were misogynist. They betrayed a remarkable case of amnesia relating to what tennis was like before Federer and Nadal.
Does Moore, 69, remember that equal pay for women at the grand slam events — passionately championed behind the scenes by Venus Williams — grew in large part out of that preFederer era when the women were carrying the sport in terms of diverse playing styles, personality and, yes, a healthy dose of competitive hostility?
A few months ago Martina Hingis spoke to the point apparently lost on Moore — the sport’s cyclical nature — when she told me: “I know it sounds like a past player saying, oh, our era was better, but for a few years we were like the men are now, only I think even more different in style.
“You had the Williams sisters’ power and movement, Lindsay Davenport’s skills, my kind of chess game and Monica Seles still really good after all she went through.”
MAKING THE CASE: Martina Navratilova, left, and Chris Evert were one of the great rivalries
STEFFI GRAFF
VENUS WILLIAMS
Let’s not forget Jennifer Capriati pushing away all the demons of adolescence to win three grand slam events and compete vigorously until injuries sidelined her in 2004.
In that turn-of-the-century era, there was even one transcendent player who never won a tournament. Referring to Anna Kournikova, Hingis giggled and added: “And Anna looked pretty — it was nice to see her.”
Okay, so even a woman can stoop to the perils of objectification. Moore was guilty of that, too, when he referred to the promising young players Eugenie Bouchard and Garbiñe Muguruza as “physically attractive and competitively attractive”.
Indian Wells, the target of a Williams family boycott for years after
SERENA WILLIAMS a 2001 controversy that the sisters believed had racial overtones, again made news for the wrong reasons, and Moore was not the only news maker.
Navratilova wasn’t especially impressed by Djokovic’s assertion that equal pay should again be on the table “because the stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches”.
“I thought we settled that issue years ago,” Navratilova said.
With good intentions but questionable judgment, Djokovic ventured into another quagmire when he praised the women for rising above biological challenges.
“You know, the hormones and different stuff — we don’t need to go into details,” he said.
MONICA SELES
The mere introduction of the subject seemed like an unsuccessful way for Djokovic to remove his foot from his mouth. If he had wanted to raise a relevant point about women’s bodies, he might have said that longer careers can be far less complicated for men.
Federer has played seamlessly through the birth of four children. Djokovic has remained dominant while becoming a father. But the women have been without the charismatic grand slam event champions Kim Clijsters, 32; Justine Henin, 33; and Li Na, 34, who all retired to have children.
At 34, Serena plays on, quick to remind Moore and the world that her pursuit of a calendar year grand slam was the enduring narrative at the US Open last summer until her defeat to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals.
Moore should also understand that as beloved as Federer and Nadal remain, the men’s game is not as compelling with an air of inevitability — meaning Djokovic’s dominance — creating a dynamic similar to Serena’s.
Who knows from which side of the sport the next must-see superstars will emerge? Tennis is one sport where that question can be raised.
Gender equity is a brain teaser almost everywhere else, a continuing argument about conditions for growth, fairness in news media coverage and multiple other factors.
Mary Jo Kane, an activist in the field, doesn’t consider herself the world’s greatest tennis fan. But as long-time director of the Tucker Centre for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, she is more focused on actions, attitudes and, yes, language.
After reading Moore’s comments, she said in a telephone interview that she wished someone had asked him: “Every time Serena plays a match that overshadows the men, should they drop to their knees and thank God for her? And should the top five men in the US — and I couldn’t even tell you
For a few years we were like the men are now, only I think even more different in style It’s sad that a man in his position would have such a shallow opinion of women
who they are — drop to their knees and thank God for Federer and Nadal? Why just the women?”
She said it was good to hear Moore apologise quickly; she hoped he was an outlier with such thoughts, but “even if that’s the case, he’s also in a position of power”.
To which Nancy Lieberman, the pioneering women’s basketball legend who was with the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden as the NBA’s second female assistant coach, said: “It’s sad that a man in his position would have such a shallow opinion of women, especially standing next to Serena Williams.”
Lieberman, who once trained Navratilova, added: “I’m surprised he was able to keep his job.”
Until late Monday night, when Moore stepped down from his directorship and chief officer positions. Given the crudity of his assertion, he and other tournament officials had to know that the imagery of women on their knees, supplicant to men, at a major coed tournament could not linger, apology notwithstanding. He had to go. — © The New York Times News Service