type of picture of her.

with her athleticism does make this interesting (with all of the taunting and vitriol about how much she looks like a man...).

I like this picture because of that contrast. But I can understand that others would feel that this is a bit much.

as a poke in the eye to all those calling her "manly" and ugly".

because she is anything but manly or ugly...and especially in this photo....

I stopped caring about tennis after the McEnroe/Connors/Borg/Lendl days.

Maybe it was my age or something but some of those matches were amazing.

I still dont much care about it but I have taken an interest in the Williams Sisters.

Something about the way they get under certain folks skin...

she's an athlete and they choose to sexualize her instead of focusing on her actual talents. Leaves a very bad taste.

I'm going to avoid talking about the merits of her selection, though, because she's very popular and I don't want to get into a flame war.

But i agree about the pic. Wish it had more of a sports theme to it

I'd suggest that Novak Djokovic had a more impressive year--the most impressive since McEnroe in, I think, 83--and may be far more deserving.

But i meant that more in that she actually is a sports figure.

But I'm clueless in discussing actual game play and the comparisons of players.

Do you think Serena is more marketable than Djokovic ?

it's as if everyone has forgotten the time she told a linesperson "I'm going to shove this ball down your fucking throat" at the US Open a few years ago.

You expect your female athletes to be ladylike at all times?

it's silly to trivialize threatening a linesperson like that.

since this incident is forever stuck in your mind. You have brought it up before. This single incident appears to color everything you think about Serena. This sounds like your personal issue to me.

Linespeople can be wrong. Players can be passionate. They can be wrong, too.

But to judge a person's entire career on a single incident like this is false.

You clearly dislike Serena, you go out of your way to diminish her accomplishments, your bias is duly noted. And, I don't think it is necessary to point out that your bias could be characterized as an extreme bias. I don't think the world of tennis generally shares your bias, though I think there is still latent and not so latent resentment against black players in this most white sport in existence.

The cultural norm in this sport is British decorum, though most of the world doesn't operate this way. All sports are about winning, regardless of how it happens. Tennis still maintains, in some faint way, that winning is only done in an extremely polite way to be acceptable. This is bullshit, of course. Serena can never be polite enough to become white.

but CK and I had, I think, a fair back and forth without resorting to personal attacks against each other.

I really have nothing more to say to you about this matter.

To put it bluntly, yes, it is a personal attack, but in the sense it is an attack on your biases.

You judge Serena based on a single incident.

You repeat that judgment and that incident in this forum.

Is this a mature, grown-up thing to do? Can any human being have their career summed up by a single incident?

and is anything I said in my previous post untrue?

as I said, I'm done with this convo

IIRC, Serena had previous encounters with that line judge in previous tournaments. I thought that specific call was very bogus and, yes, Serena went overboard...then again, on that call, I may have gone overboard, too.

Well he became rich and famous because he was an amazing player, too.

After remarking that their preferred sports person had the most impressive season since the bad boy of tennis ... who didn't earn that nick-name forhis gente and soft-spokeness towards officials.

that Serena is getting her second wind; that she is dominating the sport at an age when even Martina Navratilova had slowed down and Steffi Graf had already retired, I believe.

Serena dominated the sport in a previous time and she is even more dominant now than she was in the mid-2000's.

Here I am allowing myself to do it anyhow. The difference between Williams and Serena is, among other things, that when Navratilova was Willaims' age, she was facing people like Graf. The women's tour for the last decade, at least, has been perhaps the weakest it has ever been: with the exception of, say, Henin (and sometimes Clijsters), the women at the top have been really weak sauce. If Navratilova had played in an era in which there was no real competition (i.e. she didn't have to play, first, against giants like Billie Jean and then have an historic rivalry with Evert, followed by Graf later in Martina's career), she probably would have won 30 grand slams. But because the women's game is and has been so poor...

you could almost say the same thing about Djokovic at this point, as Federer has been past his prime for ~ 5 years (although Federer is still a Wimbledon threat...much as Navaratilova was at Wimbledon even past her prime) and Rafael Nadal...well, the poor thing is just burned out; he can't even win in Paris anymore...so I would argue that Djokovic isn't facing good competition either, at this point.

Graf...yeah, and she wouldn't have had as many GS if Seles hadn't gotten stabbed...that pretty much cleared the way for Graf for about 3-5 years until Hingis and Davenport came on the scene.

But yes, Henin and Venus are the only 2 women's players that have really been able to give Serena a run for her money for the past 10 years.

The past 7 years or so have been the greatest ever in men's tennis. We're it not for Rafa, Roger would have a bazillion slams; we're it not for Roger, Rafa would have even more; and were it not for both, Djokovic would have been as dominant as Laver.

Anyhow, this has been fun, CK. It's good to have a reasonable disagreement on DU, even if it is about something relatively trivial.

ETA: Funny that you mention Hingis, who I was going to mention earlier. Fun fact: Serena didn't even win the most GS titles on thew women's tour this year. That was Hingis, who won five.

and others who have said it repeatedly over the past few years. For example: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2589886-are-we-witnessing-the-golden-age-of-mens-tennis

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/06/08/federer-nadal-and-djokovic-represent-golden-age-of-mens-tennis/

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/tenniss-golden-age

http://qz.com/297513/how-the-golden-age-of-tennis-finally-found-its-super-bowl/

http://acttwomagazine.com/mens-tennis-golden-age/

The era you mention (Borg/McEnroe, not Edberg/Becker) was, no doubt, incredible though. I wish--really I don't because I don't wanna be that old--I were old enough to remember the great Aussies, who I think also set a benchmark in the sport, but I can only judge what I've seen.

really disgusting attempt at mocking Serena from a few years ago.

But I was merely talking about his record this year, which was phenomenal. He was basically the tennis version of the Golden State Warriors

The cover? Serena's idea, intended to express her own ideal of femininity, strength & power http://on.si.com/1SWZixt

And I love that she's showing off in the photo! Balanced with her strength and agility, there is no sexualization in my mind especially after the putrage she's faced on the courts from her peers and spectators alike mocking her body. Plus, I've seen so many photos of her in bathing suits, like on the cover of Essence, tons of paparazzi photos of her in bathing suits, even on the cover of tennis magazine, ESPN-the body issue, evening gowns, gorgeous dresses. The woman revels in her beautiful body off the court. And that's the point.

somebody's blood???!!

Before the controversy.

They should have forgone the sexualsensation this photo represents which makes this a fail in my book. They just couldn't give it the straight story vibe it should have had...

I do wish she had chosen a different pose. This isn't the worst thing, I should have mentioned above, but I am tired of sexualizing everyone, anything and everything to make a sale. Serena has so much to offer, I don't get the focus this image represents.

So I'll alter my response to:

That's too bad. I hope the article is a worthy read.

And my mother (r.i.p.) would have loved her accomplishment! LOL...Serena knows that she is the queen!

Don't we all wish to be sexy, at least to someone?

certain age....then, it's a FOND MEMORY!!!



Might as well flaunt it while ya got it....because believe me, it GOES...and all you have are those memories!

This is Serena's life and SHE is living it. If they don't like it...Fu*k' um!

Serena is my girl.

Powerful, beautiful words from a powerful, beautiful woman.

https://www.facebook.com/forharriet/videos/981582995221820/

Thank you for sharing!