Black Tennis Pros

NEW YORK -- Former Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison has settled her racial discrimination lawsuit with the U.S. Tennis Association.

Papers filed in federal court on Wednesday show that a deal was signed on Aug. 27, though its terms were not disclosed.

U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said the association is happy the case was resolved and was looking forward to working with Garrison in the future.

Garrison filed her lawsuit in February, saying she was treated unfairly because she was paid a lower salary than Davis Cup coach Patrick McEnroe and was held to higher standards.

Attorneys on both sides did not immediately return messages for comment.

The USTA announced in December 2007 that 2008 would be Garrison's final season at the helm.

Garrison, the first black captain of the U.S. Fed Cup team, replaced Billie Jean King in 2004. As a player, Garrison was the 1990 Wimbledon runner-up, becoming the first black woman since Althea Gibson in 1958 to reach a Grand Slam singles final.

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Hey guys!!!

I want to amend my press statement of yesterday, and want to make it clear as possible - I want to sincerely apologize FIRST to the lines woman, Kim Clijsters, the USTA, and tennis fans everywhere for my inappropriate outburst. I'm a woman of great pride, faith and integrity, and I admit when I'm wrong.

I need to make it clear to all young people that I handled myself inappropriately and it's not the way to act -- win or lose, good call or bad call in any sport, in any manner.

I like to lead by example. We all learn from experiences both good and bad. I will learn and grow from this, and be a better person as a result.

Xxxx,

S

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What happened Saturday during the women’s semifinal at the United States Open between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters is just another example of how Black women are still seen as threatening and hostile.

Serena Williams may be one of the world’s greatest tennis players, but don’t get it twisted, she’s still a sista who is known to be a very serious and tense player. So if she feels that she is being intentionally targeted with bad calls, she’s not going to just take it lying down. This includes challenging foot faults on match point.

Was Serena intense, yes. It was an intense moment in the match. After all, this is the U.S. Open’s women’s semifinal. Under an extreme amount of pressure, maybe it got to her. It can happen to the best of us. After all, a person can only take so much and it’s not as if the field of tennis rolled out the red carpet for her and sister Venus. From day one, the Williams’ sisters have had to fight for everything they’ve accomplished in tennis, including the continuing racism that keeps the Williams’ sisters from Palm Springs’ Indian Wells Tournament and allows for commentators to credit the sister’s “strength” and “athleticism” for their victories while their white counterparts win because they “play smart” and “have a good strategy” It’s also the reason that my hometown paper the Los Angeles Times can feel confident in reporting this latest news while using a photo of Serena Williams from the back seemingly towering over the lineswoman and gives license to every other news media outlet to have a field day.

It wasn’t that long ago that Serena Williams wrote on her blog about an incident at the German Open where she lost to Dinara Safina. She wrote that she could hear the entire players lounge “all happy and joyous” because she finally lost.

"It was funny when I lost I was in the locker room and I could hear the entire players lounge really loud like really happy and joyous. Like down goes the champ! Someone beat her!!! It was like a big hoopla…."

What ensued Saturday was nothing more than a few angry curse words that turned into Serena having to defend herself against unmade threats towards the lineswoman who was obviously suffering from a typical case of a white-woman-afraid-of-the-Black-girl syndrome. How else do you explain the lineswoman accusations of Serena threatening to kill her?

Williams could be heard saying to the lineswoman: “I didn’t say I would kill you. Are you serious?”

Yeah, are you serious?

Most Black women can relate to what happened to Serena. We get mad like everyone else. The only difference is that for some reason when white women get angry, they’re not seen as threatening as we are. Maybe it’s the expression on our face. Maybe it’s the seriousness with which we address issues when we are upset. Maybe it’s the tone of our voice. You know that “don’t fuck with me today” tone that can stop a person dead in their tracks and scares the shit out of most white people.

Like comedian Dick Gregory said about Black people’s hair, when we’re 'relaxed', white people are 'relaxed'. You could say the same applies in tennis.

Look—I’ve said nothing more than “good morning” to a white person and had that taken the wrong way. Maybe I didn’t smile big enough when I said it, I don’t know. What I do know is that I can recount the many times I have had to explain something I did or said that someone white took out of context or found “troubling.” So I am not surprised that Serena’s outburst on the court towards the lineswoman turned into a death threat.

Serena Williams is a very smart woman. She knew that when she opened her mouth to contest the call and the first curse word rolled off her tongue that there was going to be a price to pay for it and she did, she lost the match to Kim Clijsters. Kim Clijsters. It was obviously important enough to her at the time to have her say and that she did to the tune of $10,500.

What’s more of a concern to me as a Black woman is that white people recognize that we all aren’t foot stomping “aww heck!” kind of girls when we get upset, some of us are “what the fuck?” kind of girls, but that doesn’t mean that our words should be taken out of context, our actions scrutinized and then generalized to represent how all Black women act. Because come Monday morning, from Rush Limbaugh to Los Angeles’ shock jock Bill Handel, that’s exactly what is going to happen and once again Black women are going find themselves the brunt of crude and tasteless jokes meant to further demean and dehumanize not only Black women but Serena Williams.

Just ask former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney about her altercation with the the Capitol Hill police. Better yet, ask First Lady Michelle Obama who endured months of ridicule and scrutiny at the hands of the mainstream media that eventually resulted in an immediate campaign to “change” her image to a much kindlier and gentle Michelle right before the election that catapulted her husband into the presidency. And while many will say that the campaign was a success—Michelle’s image enhancement campaign, I must say that I never did quite understand what was wrong with the old Michelle.

There’s nothing wrong with Serena Williams. Perhaps when more Black women tennis players ascend to the level of the Williams’ sisters and the Women’s Tennis Association has the opportunity to interact with more Black women outside of Serena and Venus, they won’t be so afraid of the Black girls. Perhaps.


The author of Ebony Magazine’s July 2008 cover story on Serena Williams, unexpected and unapologetic, at Jasmyne Cannick, 31, is a critic and commentator based in Los Angeles who writes about the worlds of pop culture, race, class, sexuality, and politics as it relates to the African-American community. She can be reached at www.jasmynecannick.com

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“Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job,” Williams said in the statement released by her management.

“Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don’t agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly. I would like to thank my fans and supporters for understanding that I am human and I look forward to continuing the journey, both professionally and personally, with you all as I move forward and grow from this experience.”

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NEW YORK -- The U.S. Open has fined Serena Williams $10,000 for her tirade directed at a line judge at the end of a semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters.

It's the maximum on-site fine a Grand Slam tennis tournament can issue for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The U.S. Open said Sunday the Grand Slam Committee Administrator has opened an investigation to determine whether Williams' behavior should be considered a "major offense," which can lead to additional penalties.

Williams also is being docked $500 for racket abuse in what became a 6-4, 7-5 loss Saturday night.

"Serena Williams' conduct last night was inappropriate and unprofessional," WTA chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster said in a statement. "No matter what the circumstances, no player should be allowed to engage in such behavior without suffering consequences. I have spoken with the USTA about this matter and I agree with the action they have taken."

Williams earned $350,000 in prize money for reaching the singles semifinals. She also is scheduled to play in the women's doubles final Monday with her sister Venus.

Williams issued a statement on Sunday night.

"Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job," it read. "Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don't agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly. I would like to thank my fans and supporters for understanding that I am human and I look forward to continuing the journey, both professionally and personally, with you all as I move forward and grow from this experience."

Allaster had some positive words for Williams as well.

"Serena is a great player who has done so much for our sport and I am certain she will continue to be a role model to millions of young women who want to play the game and excel as Serena has done," her statement said. "As a role model, it's important for a leader like Serena to step forward and recognize her behavior last night was unacceptable, and I believe that her statement earlier today is an acknowledgement of her responsibility to her fans."

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Firey player, passionate player, entertaining player, all adjectives that I've heard applied to the likes of tennis bad asses John McEnroe, Jimmie Connors, Jennifer Capriati and others over the years; but not Saturday night in the case of American Serena Williams while playing her semifinal match at the 2009 U.S. Open against Belgium's Kim Clijsters.

According to Commentator Dick Enberg, "champions don't act like that." Now, according to Wikipedia, Enberg was born in 1935, which suggests to me that he has witnessed some of the most outrageous on court shenanigans that have been displayed by champions and non-champions alike.


Earlier in the day, prior to the Williams vs. Clijsters match, CBS was ironically showing one of Jimmie Connors matches because of the rain delay. Connors was acting a stone, cold, fool! But this match was worthy of repeating to fill rain delay time.

The WTA, ESPN, CBS and whomever else owns and broadcasts women's tennis currently enjoys the silence of a multitude of tennis fans who support both Venus and Serena Williams among other tennis players and want peace, while irreverent commentators speak of them as if they are not in the room or on the court; well not on this issue. On this one I've already seen fans bringing the noise and the funk!


All implications from the commentary booth on Saturday evening were as if Serena Williams had initiated a new standard of bad behavior. Serena can't even begin to touch the behavior of some other tennis players who have built their careers on the backs of those whom they have lambasted and treated like dirt while on court.

With regard to this incident, while serving at 5-6, 15-30, the line official called a foot fault on Serena on her second serve, thus awarding Clijsters double match point, 15-40. However, Serena became upset with the call and began jawing at the official. To her misfortune, she had already been given a warning earlier in the match; which now combined resulted in a point penalty, thus costing her the match.

Post match Serena said, "I said something and they gave me a point penalty. Unfortunately, it was on match point. You know, today was a tough day. I didn't play my best. I think I had more errors today than all of my other matches combined. It was really tough for me out there."

"I think Kim played really well, and I think she came out with a really big plan. I saw her play in Cincinnati and she played incredible. It's really good to have her back on tour. Maybe we can get together and have some calming lessons."

With regard to the foot fault call, Serena said "I'm pretty sure I did. If she called a foot fault, she must have seen a foot fault. I mean, she was doing her job. I'm not going to knock her for doing her job."

It's going to be interesting to see and hear how this shakes out over the next six months or so. I've got a pretty good idea what it's going to look and sound like.

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