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Racism is just life James, Serena and Venus handled themselves with class
Updated: Tuesday September 04, 2001 5:09 PM
So there's a hint of racism in tennis. Hold the front page. If the recent racial controversies at the U.S Open have proved anything, it is that the tennis media are either hopelessly out of touch, or painfully sanctimonious. For the uninitiated, there was controversy over three racially sensitive comments at the U.S Open in the first week: Lleyton Hewitt having blotted his copybook by seeming to suggest that he was being victimized by an African-American line judge who was in sympathy with his African-American opponent, James Blake; previous allegations from Martina Hingis having resurfaced in a current magazine article, in which she questioned the motives of those who've given the Williams sisters so many lucrative sponsorship deals; and, in the same article, a quote from Martina Navratilova was recycled, in which she said that Venus and Serena get special treatment from the tennis authorities because they're black.
Now, as much as I think race should be an irrelevance in the world of sport, the above comments just don't surprise me as much as they seem to have surprised some of my media colleagues. As a black person, the suggestion that tennis, a sport largely played and supported by the Caucasian middle classes, has some vestiges of old-school bias in its lily-white foundations, is just no big shocker. It's just life. I got the impression that Hewitt's opponent, Blake, felt the same way too. The American dismissed the Aussie's outburst as an unfortunate slip made in the heat of battle. Of course, when emotions are high, one's subconscious is apt to take over. So personally, I've no doubt that what Hewitt appeared to say is what he actually thought, despite all his protestations of innocence.
But the fact is, when you're a minority in a world where the majority is still trying to politically correct itself, you just can't afford to get bent out of shape every time you sense an undertone of prejudice. Serena Williams also adopted that attitude over the Hingis/Navratilova comments. Asked to respond to the claims that she and her sister get sponsors, along with a lot of advantages and leeway from the tennis authorities, because they're black, Serena simply answered that she's not aware of getting any special treatment or opportunities because of her color. She could of course have become confrontational, slung numerous counter-allegations about racism and jealousy, and blown the whole thing up into a slanging match that would have hit the headlines on the front and back pages. But what would have been the point? She's not going to change the inherent beliefs of the Martinas of this world with an insult or the power of her rhetoric. And to fan the flames of the racial debate when you really want the focus to be on yourself as a tennis player, not a black tennis player, would be counter-productive. So the Williams girls, like Blake, opted for the high ground, and came out looking like class acts. For that I applaud them. That racism may sometimes exist behind the facade of tolerance is a fact. But I believe that to combat it you have to pick your battles. By that I don't mean that ethnic minority athletes have to adopt "turn the other cheek" diplomacy whenever they're confronted with a racial slur. But to cry wolf too often leaves the accuser open to the charge of having a chip on the shoulder, and diminishes the impact when a situation really warrants a complaint. So well done James, Serena and Venus for confining these petty accusations to the garbage. Because whatever happens at the U.S. Open, you'll walk out winners. Terry Baddoo is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
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