By: Youeal Abera
Very few athletes in the history of professional sports have achieved what Serena Williams has. Tennis fan or not, Williams’s name alone defines greatness. As a #1 ranked player, with 23 Grand Slam titles to her name, Serena Williams isn’t merely “one of the best female athletes” of all time. She’s one of the best athletes, ever.
In spite of Williams’s clear success, women are often allotted more hurdles in the workplace. At the office or on the tennis world stage, women are expected to meet a vast number of unfair standards and expectations of which their male counterparts will never have to think of. This is particularly true for women of colour, specifically Black women.
Whether receiving online ridicule for her hair’s “edges” or having her femininity belittled because of her muscular physique, Serena has had her incomparable skill and legacy depreciated simply because of the shallow, repugnant opinions of the media and sports commentators. The most recent instance in which Serena has been subjugated to such misogynistic, racially-charged treatment comes from from Bernard Giudicelli, the president of the French Open tennis tournament.
In an interview conducted within the 500th issue of Tennis Magazine, Giudicelli was asked about his desire to implement a dress code in his aim to bring “strengthening (to) the prestige and beauty of Roland-Gaross.” Translated from French, Giudicelli stated, “We will impose certain limits, we will see to what extent precisely. For 2019 it’s a bit late because the collections are already drawn, but we will still ask the equipment manufacturers to communicate them to us.”
Then, with specific reference to Serena’s famous black catsuit, Giudicelli articulated,
“I believe we have sometimes gone too far. Serena’s outfit this year, for example, would no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place.”
What’s frustrating about Giudicelli’s comments is that his concerns have nothing to do with the game of tennis. Rather, they have everything to do with Serena’s Blackness. As shown in this interview, Giudicelli believes that Serena’s Black body, while dressed in her black catsuit, does not “fall in line” with the “prestige” or “beauty” of the Roland-Gaross tennis tournament.
Just like in many other sectors in society, the realm of sports is no stranger to the policing of Black bodies. Eurocentric figures of authority, especially white men, have had the power to dictate how immensely skilled Black athletes must conduct themselves while playing their sport.
Just like the backlash John Carlos received for raising his fist at the 1968 Olympic Games, or the ridicule and harassment Colin Kaepernick faced from the NFL for taking a knee during the singing of the national anthem, Serena’s propensity to play the game with her own agency was nullified because of the colour of her skin. However, unlike Carlos or Kaepernick, Serena has to deal with the unjust restrictions of being both Black and a woman.
After Serena gave birth in 2017, she was inundated with blood clots. Moreover, in order to help alleviate her from experiencing any additional clots, Williams decided to wear her black catsuit at Roland-Garros, where she played her first match since giving birth. Therefore, not only did Giudicelli’s misogynistic and racist restriction prevent Serena from selecting her own fashion choice, but it also posed dangerous risks to Serena’s health and well-being.
Giudicelli disallowed Serena from ever wearing her black catsuit again because he doesn’t like how her Black body looks in it. What’s imperative in reading Giudicelli’s commentary on Serena’s fashion selection is developing the ability to critically assess and introspectively reject the impossible standards society places on women, chiefly women of colour.
Unfortunately, these repugnant perspectives and harmful comments on female athletes won’t cease any time soon. However, through being mindful of its problematic rhetoric, and by boldly repudiating its conveyed messages, commentary on the bodies of female athletes will never take precedence over what truly matters: undeniable, refined skill.
