Better Than a Man

11/29/2010

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 This week I wanted to look deeper into a tennis player that I do not know much about.  I wanted the player to be well known but not of my generation.  I decided to explore Billie Jean King’s tennis career.  To be honest, I do not know a lot about her.  I only know that she has a court named after her at the US Open and that she defeated a man, Bobby Riggs I think, in the “Battle of the Sexes” match.  I think that she is definitely a tennis legend whose name will last through the ages just with that one match, but she has done so much more. 

According to ESPN.com, King was ranked number one for five consecutive years.  Also, she has won four US Open singles titles and six Wimbledon championships.  However after all this, she is revered by most women (and maybe men) for her defeat of a 55-year-old man and former champion Bobby Riggs.  Riggs had won Wimbledon in 1939.

Billie Jean King won the match in 3 sets, pummeling the former champion.  This proved that women can compete just as well as men can, if not better.  As a woman and a tennis player, I have a lot to thank Billie Jean King for.  Women in tennis were not treated as equally as men.  Men earned lots more than women did in those times.  In essence, women were treated like second class players.  Billie Jean King paved the way for future generations of women tennis players in the seventies. 

King was fed up with this, and in 1972, King won the US Open and demanded that next year the prize money for men and women be equal at this tournament or she and the other women players would not show up.  Her hardball tactics worked, and in 1973, the US Open offered equal winnings to both men and women.  Billie Jean King was and still is a pioneer for women’s sports.  She was named one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century.” 

In 1974, Billie Jean King founded “WomenSports magazine, started the Women’s Sports Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and enhancing athletic opportunities for females, and with her husband (Larry King), formed World Team Tennis,” according to ESPN.com.  There is no doubt that King was a force to be reckoned with.  The next year King was found to be the most admired woman in the world over Israel’s Prime Minister.

Even though King is now retired, she remains very actively involved in the game.  She is an announcer, author, and coach.  I bet King would be right out on the courts with the Williams sisters if she could; her passion for tennis is that evident and all-consuming.

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Tennis Coaching Controversy

11/7/2010

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A big problem in the tennis game that has been occurring a lot lately is the use of improper coaching.  That is players looking to their box to see where their coaches want them to place the serve or what type of point to play, such as a serve and volley game.  This is illegal in the game of tennis.  You can be coached before or after a match but not in the middle of the match.  Numerous players have been accused of doing this, but the one that sticks out most in my mind is Rafael Nadal when he won against Novak Djokovic in the US Open final.  I was not there so I do not know what happened, but according to espn.com, Rafael Nadal admitted to receiving coaching on the last point of the match.  He was told by his long time coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, to serve at a certain spot.  However when Nadal leaked this information, he leaked it in Spanish, and it is not 100 percent sure what he said.  The translator was not sure what Nadal said because he was talking so rapidly.  Furthermore, Nadal could have been looking to his beloved Uncle Toni, who has been his coach throughout his whole life, in a moment of pressure, and Nadal could have been looking for support.  This is not the first time that Nadal has been accused of receiving improper coaching. 

Last Wimbledon, there was a big dilemma over whether or not Nadal received coaching in his third round match against Philipp Petzschner according to worldtennismagazine.com.  Nadal was uncharacteristically angry with the chair umpire for receiving this warning.  He glowered and yelled at the umpire in a John McEnroe way.  This brings up what is construed as coaching.  Is yelling “Vamos Rafa” coaching?  Is telling him “Beautiful forehand” considered coaching?  Where does is become too much?

 Toni Nadal is not the only coach to be accused of improper coaching.  There are plenty of other coaches who have been accused of doing just this.  Other ones that come to mind are Jimmy Connors and Todd Martin.  However, the Pilot Penn tournament in New Haven is now allowing on court coaching.  What does this mean for the future of improper coaching?  Will it be allowed at more tournaments?  Only time will tell, but whatever the reason, Rafael Nadal is still the 2010 US Open men’s singles champion.  

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Photo courtesy of deportes.orange.es
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Pretty Players vs. Talented Players

11/1/2010

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Photo courtsey of abc.net.au
Wimbledon has been known for its classiness and old school ways for so long.  All players are required to wear white on court, and there is barely any advertising on courts.  However, Wimbledon, the crowning achievement for any player, was under a lot of scrutiny in 2008 for improper court placement. 

In 2008, Venus Williams was the reigning Wimbledon champion, and she had returned to the famed green courts to defend her crown, but things were not to her liking or advantage that year.  She was placed on an outer court where barely any person who wanted to see this great woman play tennis could actually do that.  She and her sister, Serena, were placed on Court 2 which is commonly known as the Graveyard Court because of all the legends that have lost there.   According to nydailynews.com, Venus Williams said, “I’m actually really tall, so I feel a little cramped.  Will I have rooms to move my legs around?  There’s a lot of room in back.  There’s less on the side” in response to being placed on the smaller Court 2.

Venus and Serena were not the only ones seemingly being ostracized.  Jelena Jankovic, then a top-seeded player, was placed on Court 18.  Spectators had to cram around the court just even to get a glimpse of the woman from Serbia. 

On Court 1 of the same day, Nicole Vaidisova played Anna Chakvetadze.  These two are unknown players compared to the Williams sisters and Jankovic.  Why were they placed on such a better court than the three power players.  A person can argue that Vaidisova and Chakvetadze are more commercial and attractive than Venus, Serena, and Jankovic.  This might be the case, but officials did place Svetlana Kuznetsova and Agnieszka Radwanska on Centre Court, and these two ladies are not the most attractive people in the world.

Putting these high-ranked players on these small, obscure courts was definitely not a smart move by Wimbledon.  Whatever their reasoning behind the move, it was stupid on their part.  Venus was the DEFENDING CHAMPION.  You do not place her on an outside court no matter what!  She is a point of interest for people.  People come just to see her.  I mean seriously she is known as “The Queen of the Grass” aka Wimbledon.  She has won five trophies just from Wimbledon alone.  To make more money off her, place her on Centre Court or Court 1 at least.  Furthermore by placing her so far away, she is bound to not be happy.  You do not want an angry Williams sister.  Just look at what happened to Serena at the U.S. Open.  Venus, Serena, and Jankovic deserve more respect, and hopefully, they will get it in upcoming years.

 

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