WOMEN'S SEMIFINAL - WIMBLEDON

 As I am writing this piece, Ashleigh Barty of Australia, the world's No. 1 ranked player in the world, a player of Aboriginal descent has just made her way into the finals of The Championships at Wimbledon and I am sitting here seething in rage at Chris Evert and Chris Fowler as they continue to use the term "walkabout" to describe Ms. Barty's lapse during certain points in the match.

I tweeted earlier tagging Ms. Evert in my tweet and using the hashtag that was coined for Ms. Evert to let her know that using the term walkabout to describe Ms. Barty was offensive.  Various users on Twitter informed me that at the start of the match, her fellow commentator, Chris Fowler also used the opportunity to use the word walkabout in describing Ms. Barty.

At a time when ESPN is being shown to have issues as it relates to diversity (see Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor), it would have been good if the powers that be had taken both Chrises into a room with a Wikepedia page and let them know just how wrong it is to use this form of language and how hurtful it can be to Ms. Barty.  This year we are being told that the dress that Ms. Barty is wearing is her clothing sponsor's way of paying homage to another Aboriginal, Ms. Evonne Goolagong who won The Championships 50 years ago this year. 

How hurtful must it be for Ms. Goolagong, a woman who has paved the way for Aboriginal persons to listen to a young player's lapses being termed as walkabout.

For those who do not have access to Wikipedia, a quick Google search turned up this article

https://www.outdoorrevival.com/old-ways/walkabout-aboriginal-australian-hike-serves-rite-passage.html

A walkabout is a rite of passage which is of a spiritual nature. As a result of Western culture using it in a disparaging and disrespectful manner, the Aboriginal peoples have had to cease using the word to describe a part of their culture and heritage.  How absolutely shameful is this.

As a woman of colour and a Jamaican living in a land that is not of my birth, I hear so many remarks being made about Jamaicans on a whole.  The most famous is that Jamaicans love to smoke weed and there was the time when someone said that Jamaicans are best known for how they can use a mop (don't get me started).

ESPN commentators and frankly its not just ESPN but commentators on a whole need to do better.  I thought we had long passed the time when I had to take to my blog to talk about issues such as this, but again, it is clear the more things change, the more they remain the same.  I am exhausted by this. 

Currently watching the second semifinal.  Yet to hear the talk of Sabalenka's grunting so small mercies.  

EMBARGO THIS

 Many persons who follow me on social media do so because they know that I absolutely  love women's tennis.  I am perhaps one of the few persons who wrote extensively about the need for the WTA to have its own tv coverage so that the women could have equal footing with the men.  I tagged anyone who would listen and I have been blocked by many journalists because of my penchant for tagging them when they make silly, demeaning or just plain out of touch remarks as it relates to the women's game.  These days I don't do much writing as my work schedule has become unbelievably busy and frankly, I am exhausted.  Not by tennis but because the more things change, the more they remain the same.

I have a WTA TV subscription.  I was one of the first persons to sign up and I even did a little write up about why persons should sign up for a subscription.  I literally ditched my Samsung TV and replaced it with an LG because I realised that with the LG I could actually watch women's tennis on my tv without the need for me to stream from my phone.  Next thing on the agenda is for the WTA to develop a WTA TV app and my life will be golden.

However, this post is not about the WTA.  It is actually about Wimbledon and ESPN and the current embargo that is now in place for the women's quarter finals and I suspect the embargo will also be in place for the women's semi finals.  There is no doubt in my mind that there will be no embargo when it comes to the men's quarter finals.  After all, we do need the men to be as visible as possible.

Who benefits from embargoes?  As far as I know today is a working day for persons in the US and UK.  It is also a working day for me.  I had a public holiday yesterday (5 July) so I was able to stay home and watch all the round of 16 matches on the women's side.  The scheduling was pretty good by the Wimbledon organisers as apart from a few times where there were women's matches being played at the same time, the time factor allowed for me to watch as many of the women's matches as I could.  I applaud the schedulers for this.

However, today is a work day.  Many persons will be watching the matches on their phones via an app and today is the day that the powers that be chose to impose an embargo.  I subscribe to ESPN Play which is the ESPN that facilitates the Caribbean.  It costs a pretty penny to be able to do this as in order for you to get a sports package, you have to subscribe to channels that you don't actually need.  Sports is always placed on a higher cable package.  In order for me to get the online version of ESPN Play I have to subscribe to a sports package that has such things as the Outdoor channel which I can tell you I have never been tempted to spend more than a few seconds as I scroll to find ESPN on my  programme guide. 

Today, as I sat at my desk with my earphone plugged getting ready to watch Ons Jabeur I realised that the match was not available.  I, being smart, decided to turn on my VPN and lo and behold I was once again stymied.  I could have used my family who lives in the US log in information, but I thought to myself, why do I need to go through all that trouble just to watch a tennis match?  Why?

If you are not a die hard fan of the women's game, and let me tell you something, most of the people who do commentary on tv, are not die hard fans of the women's game.  How do I know this?  I know this because they think that some of the players who have made the second week of Wimbledon are having a break out season.  They think that this is a career defining moment for them.  They speak of persons like Sabalenka, Muchova and Badosa as if they are unknowns.  They know nothing of Ons Jabeur other than that she is from a North African country.  At least they know about her husband and the fact that he is her fitness coach.  Yaaaay. 

This is why whenever Saturday morning rolls around and you are getting ready to watch the women's final from Wimbledon, your talking points will be about Federer and Djokovic and what they bring to the game.  If Kerber makes the final, the fact that she beat Serena Williams in majors on 2 occassions will be brought up ad nauseam, because clearly Kerber has done nothing else in her career.  And don't get me started if Sabalenka gets to the final, her grunting will be a topic of conversation. If Barty manages to get to the final, I am sure somewhere they will be trotting out poor Evonne Goolagong to talk about Barty's outfit which pays homage to Goolagong's dress from 50 years ago.  Talk about a Lewinsky moment.

Women's tennis deserves better than this.  The women deserve to have their sport reach far and wide.  They deserve to have their careers discussed along the same lines as commentators do the men's.  No one shows Djokovic's wife and talks about whether she prepares his vegan meals.  No one ever focuses on Nadal's wife in the stands.  They focus on the men, the strategy that is being employed and whether or not it will work against his opponent.

Most of the matches that I have watched at this year's Wimbledon have been women's matches.  The word variation seems to be the only word that commentators can use when a player uses a slice or plays a drop shot.  I don't know whether that is variation in tennis or whether that is just a strategy that is being employed by the player.  For commentators, that seems to be the former as apparently hitting with pace just makes you one dimensional.  Go figure.

I can only hope that as the US Open rolls around later this year with stands at full capacity that commentators will do much better by the women but I am not holding my breath on that.

UPDATE:  I wrote this yesterday and neglected to post.  This morning big surprise.  There was no embargo on the men's quarter final.  I checked to see if I could watch it and lo and behold there it was.  Things that make you go Hmmmm