New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Serena and Venus Williams are underappreciated icons
We were in the interview room at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven in August 1999 when I made a comment to 19-yearold Venus Williams like she was my partner in a weekend mixed doubles league.
“It looks like you’ve put a lot of work into improving your backhand.”
Venus hadn’t claimed any of her seven singles Grand Slam titles yet, but I was embarrassed by my weak lob of a non-question even before it reached her side of the court. I couldn’t have blamed her if she slammed it down my gullet.
“Well, thank you for noticing,” she replied with a 100-watt smile and zero-watt sarcasm.
Sportswriters in the Connecticut press corps weren’t used to such graciousness given the behavior of the male players in the same space. Andre Agassi made a show of removing a wad of gum (“Disgusting,” he accurately observed) one afternoon. Jim Courier embarrassed himself by bullying a USTA official who insisted he fulfill his media obligation after a loss.
A few weeks later, I made far more regrettable comments while watching Venus’ kid sister, Serena, during an early round at the U.S. Open in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
“She is one of the most amazing athletes I’ve ever seen,” I said to a fellow sportswriter. “But she doesn’t really seem like a tennis player.”
Less than a fortnight later, Serena beat Martina Hingis to claim the first of her 23 Grand Slam titles. A few days ago she announced that she’ll be retiring soon. Venus still teases that she’ll be coming back.
Even after all these years, there should be a lot more noise made about these two icons. Tennis fans routinely bemoan the dearth of American male stars, but repeatedly take these superstars for granted.
I remember arriving early to cover a first-round night match in the grandstand at the U.S. Open in 1995 between Mats Wilander and Steve Campbell. Wilander, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, was
Even after all these years, there should be a lot more noise made about this two icons. Tennis fans routinely bemoan the dearth of American male stars, but repeatedly take these superstars for granted.
living in Greenwich at the time. As the night session fans were arriving on the grounds, about the only other people who had taken seats were a small pack who were there to root for Campbell. I listened in before chatting with them briefly. They were Black fans who had spent their day following the few Black players on the tour, whom they referred to by first name only.
I’d seen this before, groups gathering to cheer on the likes of Zina (Garrison), MaliVai (Washington) and Chanda (Rubin). I’d checked out James Blake’s first Open match that same week, having watched him play for Fairfield High School. In 1994, I wrote about Jeff Coetzee becoming the first non-white South African to play at the U.S. Open (as a junior). He was staying in Greenwich during the tournament.
Yes, the still-new centerpiece of the grounds was named after Arthur Ashe, the first Black man to win a U.S. Open title (Althea Gibson was the first women, 11 years before Ashe’s victory in 1968). But Black players remained nearly as rare as faces of color on the tennis center’s 47 acres.
In 2000, I had moved back to news but bought a ticket to see Venus win her first Open title over Lindsay Davenport. I noticed a lot more Black faces around me in the cheap seats. White fans of a sport that clings to dainty traditions seemed rattled to hear Venus’ supporters clap when Davenport made an error. Oh, the horror!
I’d seen the likes of this before as well, while following Tiger Woods as he played at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., in June 1998. Tigermania was peaking, and several young Black children were on the other side of the ropes to see their new hero up close. They, too, were unfamiliar with the sport’s etiquette, and hooted on backswings (by Woods and his playing partners).
In both cases, I realized offended parties were actually capable of vocalizing “harrumph” while fanning themselves like they were extras in a Merchant-Ivory production.
Let’s get back to watching Venus rise on center court in 2000. Earlier in the day, it was impossible to miss the arrival of President Bill Clinton, who watched the men’s semifinal between Pete Sampras and Lleyton Hewitt. It instantly struck me that the last time I’d seen Clinton in person was when he spoke on Jackie Robinson Night at Shea Stadium just next door in 1997. Gauging from the security check, Secret Service was far more concerned about the behavior of Mets fans than what tennis aficionados might do.
Clinton was the first sitting president to attend the Open, yet failed to recognize a moment in history while it was about to happen.
Yup, Bubba ducked out before the women’s final.
Venus may have shown tolerance for my silly observation in New Haven, but she wasn’t having it from POTUS. When he later phoned to congratulate her on the win, she called him out on it.
“Why didn’t you stay?” she challenged him.
Clinton didn’t have a good answer.
“I had to get back to have dinner with Hillary,” he replied.
Venus kept him on his heels with a comment on failing New York infrastructure and a request to “lower my taxes.”
Such is the attack game that led the Williams sisters to revolutionize their sport. They raised everyone’s game. Wilander said something a few days ago that a lot more people should be thinking, that Serena might be “the greatest player male or female.”
It won’t take long after they retire for the story of Venus and Serena Williams to sound like myth. They are legends on par with Ashe, Robinson and Woods. It’s time to rise and recognize their chapter in American history.