by Karen
Forgiveness
I am a
practicing Christian. Not always a good
one but like many people of faith, we struggle.
One of the struggles we have is how to forgive. In the Bible there are many references to
forgiveness and forgive. During this
Lenten period as many Christians begin that period where they cast off those
things of the world, repent and walk towards a newness of spirit with our Lord,
the issue of forgiveness usually comes up.
In the Old Testament one could not expect to come into the Holy of
Holies without first forgiving his brother for any wrongs that he may have done
to him.
In the New
Testament with the coming of our Saviour we come to our Lord in repentance and
we forgive our brothers and sisters as many times as it takes (Matthew 18:22)
Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often
shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"22Jesus said to him, "I do not say
to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
Many people forget that Serena Williams
is a practicing Christian (Jehovah’s Witness).
Upon her return to Indian Wells, Serena indicated that she was doing so
in a spirit of forgiveness. Many have asked
just who is Serena forgiving and why.
Has someone asked her for her forgiveness? I don’t know what spiritual journey Serena
has embarked upon (and for me there is no doubt that she is on a spiritual
journey), but perhaps Serena is forgiving those who wronged her and her family
14 years ago. Here is my list:-
- Elena
Dementieva for implying that matches between the Williams Sisters were fixed;
- Charlie
Pasarell for stating that Venus should have attempted to play;
- The
Tournament Organisers for not informing patrons that Venus had withdrawn from
the match from earlier in the day;
- The fans
who attended on that day for their boorish behavior;
- The
media for not calling out the tournament organizers when the incident happened
and especially for not doing so over the course of 14 years;
- The WTA
for standing by and doing nothing when this happened. The tournament should have been sanctioned;
- The ITF
for not issuing a statement condemning the actions (or non-actions) of the
tournament organizers; and
- The
players, both ATP and WTA who stood by and said absolutely nothing about this.
Tennis needs to use this particular incident
as its truth and reconciliation moment. No one is bigger than this sport but Serena
Williams has proven to the world that she is indeed bigger and better than the
people who own the BNP Paribas Open.
On Court Coaching - The Shifting Target
It used to be that the commentary booth would be filled with
derisive laughter whenever a WTA player would bring her coach down courtside
for a visit during WTA matches. How many
of us can forget many of the women in the booth stating unequivocally how it
made the women look weak, especially at a time when the WTA was showing just
how strong these women are. Mary
Carillo, herself no fan of on court coaching would go on and on about it and
there were others like Lindsay Davenport who was no fan of this rule. I have always felt and I have opined on this
before that most of the backlash with on court coaching was usually reserved
for the lesser lights. Whenever players
such as Wozniacki called her father down, it was usually seen as a sign of
weakness. However, when players such as
Sharapova called her coach down, it was usually because she needed to be
reminded of what she needed to continue doing.
Who can forget Toronto 2013 when Sorana Cirstea made it all
the way to the finals of that tournament on the supposed strength of her
coaching visits with Darren Cahill. At
one point most of us were of the view that it was Cahill playing a match and
not Cirstea. It did not help that during
the trophy ceremony after being thrashed by Serena Williams that Cirstea
thanked her coach for his help during the week.
Most of us rolled our eyes at that and continue to do so.
Lindsay Davenport has now joined the ranks of celebrity
coaches as she now coaches Madison Keys.
Keys who made it to the semifinals of this year’s Australian Open on the
strength of her big serve and forehand lost in the third round of the BNP
Paribas Open to former champion Jelena Jankovic. After losing the first set (a set she should
have won), Keys called her coach down courtside. Immediately, the mood in the booth
changed. From trashing on court coaching
as a sign of weakness to praising the coaching skills and advice of Davenport,
Keys would go on to lose the match, losing from being up a break in the third
set, she would go on to lose 5 of the next 6 games.
While those in the booth kept praising Davenport’s coaching
skills and advice, her charge was basically disintegrating before our very
eyes. Unable to keep the ball in play,
Keys would succumb to the steadiness of Jankovic amidst a rash of UFEs mostly
committed from her backhand.
By the same token, Maria Sharapova, no stranger to on court
coaching visits, lost her match after being up a set against Flavia
Pennetta. During her coaching visit,
super coach Sven Groneveld reminded her of what she needed to do. I can’t say that he gave her any effective
strategy except to keep shuffling her feet.
She clearly did not hear him as she would lose the third set going away.
In her first match in 14 years at Indian Wells, Serena
Williams, no fan of on court coaching herself, signed on for on court
coaching. This was understandable as
this was without a doubt going to be a very emotional match and she no doubt
felt that she would need that emotional support during the match. However, in the almost 2.5 hour match,
despite struggling with her game and her opponent, Serena did not call her
coach down.
The commentators would take heed to listen to Serena
Williams and her views regarding on court coaching. Serena regarding on court coaching "He
doesn’t do any coaching at all. For me, it’s my moment out there. I just kind
of have to really figure out, if I’m losing, a way to win; or if things don’t
go right, I have to figure out a different way. It’s a good, mature thing for me
more than anything.” [Tennis World USA]
In case you are wondering why I am revisiting this issue,
its because the same people in the commentary booth who seem to be singing the
praises of Lindsay Davenport and her coaching skills are the same people who
derided other women for doing the same thing.
Makes you wonder whether it has more to do with who is doing the
coaching, the person being coached and the audience. A few years ago Bruce Jenkins wrote a piece
on Sports Illustrated in which he basically castigated the women for this
failed venture. One of the persons who
was scathing in her criticism was Mary Carillo.
This was Carillo’s 2 years ago:
"I
find that to be so sexist," she said. "Men don't have it, but the
women are allowed to say, 'Daddy, she's breaking my serve'? Are you kidding me?
This is the biggest women's sport in the world. We've had decades of mental
toughness. It was always, 'Give me the ball, I'm going to figure a way to walk
off winning this. I refuse to lose.' That's the whole, beautiful point of it.
Here's a sport with a chance to show young girls what a strong and independent
woman can do, yet you get this -- basically saying, 'I can't figure this out by
myself, I'm just a woman.' That galls me."
I don’t have a recording of the Tennis Channel airing of the
Keys/Jankovic match, but suffice it to say that Carillo, while not fully
endorsing on court coaching seems to have toned it down a bit. Whether that was because it was her colleague
(aaah that conflict issue L)
or it was as a result of 2 Americans on court, but the results to my mind were
the same. The visit was a complete
failure. While many applauded
Davenport’s coaching visit (there were cheers from the stands), I think that
had more to do with who was doing the coaching visit, rather than coaching
itself.
Madison Keys is a talented young player. She has the firepower and the mentality to be
one of, if not the best of this young upcoming generation, but to my mind, she
has to learn to rely on Madison. She has
to know that no matter what happens out there, the onus will be on her to
perform. For better or worse, your worth
as a tennis player is tied towards how many Grand Slams you have won. I know there are many who will disagree but
the Grand Slams are the hallmarks of our sport. In much the same way that
baseball has its World Series, football (real football) has the World Cup, so
too does tennis have its Grand Slams.
They are a benchmark of competition and they truly show how much one has
matured as a player, as it takes a certain type of mentality to win even one
Major.
For me one of the reasons why Simona Halep is heads and
tails above many of her peers is her continued refusal to allow anyone down
courtside for those visits. As Serena
Williams opined above, this is her moment to shine, not her coach’s and if many
other players looked at those coaching visits in that way, maybe they will
realize that the coach has been getting much of the compliments rather than the
person who has to go out there and execute.
The
Grunting/Shrieking (Exhalation of Breath) Debate
I have no idea when this will end but clearly it will never
end. I saw in Jon Wertheim’s Mailbag
this week a question on the everlasting grunting/shrieking (or as we at the
Spin call it “exhalation of breath”) debate.
In response to a question from a reader about Vesnina’s grunting he
responded as follows:
“… this isn’t hugely offensive to me. But
it's deeply offensive to many fans (I have hundreds of emails to prove it) and
former players. (Anyone catch Mary Carillo talking
about this the other night?)”
Apart from the fact that Carillo’s words hold no water with
me (see her views regarding on court coaching which changes as fast as the
wind), I just have one question. Is it
that most of the people who write in to complain about the grunting in women’s
tennis tune in specifically to matches that involve players who grunt? The top 20 in women’s consists of the
following players. I have indicated
where necessary those who vocalize when they play:-
- Serena Williams – intermittent grunts
- Maria Sharapova - grunts
- Simona Halep – only when points get long
- Petra Kvitova – no
- Caroline Wozniacki – no
- Ana Ivanovic – no
- Eugenie Bouchard – no
- Agniezska Radwanska – no
- Ekaterina Makarova – no
- Andrea Petkovic – yes
- Lucie Safarova – no
- Sara Errani – yes
- Carla Suarez-Navarro – no
- Angelique Kerber – no
- Karolina Pliskova – no
- Flavia Pennetta – no
- Venus Williams – yes
- Madison Keys – no
- Peng Shuai – no
- Barbora Strycova no
I assume when someone says top player they are talking about
the top 20. From the list above we can
safely say that approximately 30% of the top women grunt. That means that 70% of them do not. At any given tournament you are not faced
with 30% of the top women playing at the same time. That means it is either
that people are tuning in to see a specific player, and inevitably that
specific player is someone who grunts. To my mind, if it is that you really
want to enjoy women’s tennis and not have to listen to the grunting then you need to look at the other 70% of women
in the top 20 who don’t grunt. Who
knows, you may just find a player that you appreciate who does not grunt.
In the same Mailbag, JL of Newton, MA had this
question/observation about Serena
“Yes, it was momentous that Serena decided
to play again at Indian Wells. But really, after watching the match against
Monica Niculescu, I was appalled at the histrionics after Serena missed a shot.
You'd think she was defending a Wimbledon crown, rather than playing a
first-round match against a 68th-ranked opponent. I get it—she's emotional at
playing the tournament again. But the drama queen act is demeaning to
her stature as the World No. 1 and to her opponent. And not one commentator
calls her out on it, lest she appears to be questioning Serena's "virtuous"
appearance at the tournament. (Yes, I'm calling out Mary Carrillo, Mary Joe
Fernandez and Tracy Austin.) Serena had a chance to act like the champion she
is. If only she took it.”
Hey JL, try
getting booed and vilified at your next job.
Try having people attempt to tar and feather you and the world is
watching. Try being attacked and not
knowing what you did to deserve that attack. Try having your peers, colleagues
and everyone associated with your job accuse you and your family of cheating to
win matches. You then resign your job
because what you are experiencing is akin to harassment on the job. 14 years later you are at the top of your
game but you still have doubts about just how good you are because 14 years ago
some idiot at your job who had more power decided that you were not good enough
to do the job that you were qualified to do.
It did not help that one of your colleagues told the media that you got
where you were not on merit but otherwise.
Every year you are filled with an
overwhelming sense of how can I make this right, even though you have done
nothing wrong.
That is what
Serena Williams and her family experienced at Indian Wells. You tell me now JL whether or not you would
be able to perform at a premium. If you are then clearly you are a better
person than many of us. Serena did the
best she could. It was not pretty. She wanted to show her best tennis to the
fans who came to see her after 14 years.
She got frustrated because nothing was working. Credit to her opponent who decided that she
would play the match of her life. Give
the woman a break.
Finally JL, you obviously have not watched many Serena matches. She wants to perform at her best 100% of the time, whether it is defending a Wimbledon crown, playing the first round of the tournament in her backyard, the Olympics or anywhere else, as a professional competitor she wants to do her best every single time. It is not always possible to do so, but she wants to and that clearly is where you and Serena will differ. You placed little or no importance on a match against an opponent ranked No. 68 in the world. Serena surely did not. She respected her opponent enough to want to bring her best tennis. She owed it to the fans to show them her best tennis. Would that every professional had this mindset.
