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William Sisters
The World's number one ranked tennis star, Martina Hingis, blamed her silly and intemperate claim that Venus and Serena Williams scream racism to get advantages on a language flub. She made the remarks last spring that were headlined in a Time Magazine cover story on the sisters. But Martina Naritilova, who seldom passes up a chance to knock the sitters, stuck to her guns and still claimed the tennis world accords the sisters special privileges because they are black. Hingis and Naritilova, however, were strangely silent when Australian tennis heavy, Lleyton Hewitt, known for his loudmouth comments, made race an issue when playing his black U.S. Open first round match opponent, James Blake. But Hingis's apparent disavowal, and Naratilova's refusal to disavow, their play of the reverse race card, did not change two things about the way some in the tennis world see the Williams sisters. One is that the not-to-thinly disguised racial blitz of the sisters by their critics has been relentless. The other is that the more successful they are on the court, the more persistent the attacks are on them on, and off of the court. Their success is phenomenal.
Between them, they have chalked up 27 tournament wins, two Wimbledon titles, one U.S. Open title and bagged scores of match wins. They have almost single-handedly turned women's tennis into mass spectator phenomena, and accomplished the once unthinkable feat of equalizing the tournament prize money paid to the top men and women's tennis pros. To read more of this article, please order this month's issue or subscribe. Thank you. |
