For the last 11 years, except 2006, there’s been one or both Williams sisters in the Wimbledon final. Things got a little wobbly this year, though, which threatened to bring their legacy of grass dominance to an end and had salivating tennis racists licking their chops. Sorry, Wimbledon whites – which happens to be the tournament’s official attire, one made it through AGAIN.
The heavy favorite, five-time champion Venus was unceremoniously shut out in her quarter final by a no-namer and as a doubles team, the sisters were shut down by unseeded opponents. Serena was the last hope in keeping the family name on the marquis of the final match by winning her singles semi-final against recent giant killer, Czech Petra Kivitova — and she made it happen. In addition, Serena had already toppled her barbie doll Wimbledon rival, Maria Sharapova, to get to that point.
Serena beat opponent Kivitova 6-7, 6-2 in her semifinal today, which sets the stage for her to avenge her doubles loss against Vera Zvonareva (defeated the sisters with partner Elena Vesnina on Tuesday), who was once ranked in the top 10 in the sport. She had a relatively rough time with Kvitova, but pulled it out with an exclamation point.
If you read the various tennis message boards, homegrown or abroad, the running theme is that the power of her game is the only reason she wins, which is a not so subtle play on the build of the athletic black woman. It doesn’t matter to U.S. citizens that she’s the only American left, it matters more that she’s black. Her detractors also harp on the U.S. Open explosion that found the passionate powerhouse with a hefty fine and threats of Grand Slam play suspension. As unsportman-like as her outburst was, it was also uncharacteristic and excusable, given she and her sister have been in the game for years enduring cut down after cut down and insult after insult without losing their cool. Tennis-racist haters won’t accept that, though.
At the end of the day, if her ferocity and power results in 12 and possibly 13 (if she wins on Saturday) grand slam titles and an equal number in doubles with Venus, then maybe the frail, “technically sound” tennis princesses the racists herald should aspire toward that direction. Serena will play Vera Zvonereva for her fourth Wimbledon — the stiffest and stuffiest tournament of them all — title on Saturday. –gerald radford
