Wimbledon Officials Call Serena Williams Ugly, Send Her to Back Courts

Quick, name this profession: long, slim, toned bodies poured into tight fitting -- but adorable! -- clothing and jumping around in front of a bevy of overeager photographers, magazine editors, and camera crews. Oh yeah, and there's a lot of "grunting" involved (oh, the scandal!).

Did you say modeling? Actually, it's tennis.

With East European beauties such as Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova and Elena Dementieva ruling the press coverage of the sport, one would think they must also be ruling the courts. Not so, say many tennis insiders. Often the best courts and play slots (and hence the better media coverage) are given to the women who are better lookers rather than the ones who are better players. This is even true at the venerable Wimbeldon tournament where officials admitted last night to putting the prettiest female players on the famous center court even if that means relegating the uglier-but-higher-seeded women to the new auxiliary courts. Wimbeldon spokesman Johnny Perkins said unapologetically, "Good looks are a factor." Observe:

In center court we have seed No 59 Maria Kirilenko of Russia

The number 1 seed? You'll find Dinara Safina of Russia way over in court 2.

Back in the center court we have No 28 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania

But where is the number 2 player? The U.S.'s own Serena Williams (edited from original text "Venus": I'm an idiot and can't tell my Williams sisters apart. Thanks to everyone who pointed it out.) is back on court 2.

Never having played tennis outside some embarrassing weekend recreations that we won't discuss, I have no idea if being moved to another court or being told flat out by officials that you are homely would affect one's game. Venus and Serena Williams seem to be pretty indomitable despite being stuck out in the hinterlands (I know! They're gorgeous, right?) but if it were me, I think it would mess with my head and probably my game too.

On the flip side, it also makes me wonder if the "pretty" center court girls worry more about which custom Nike tennis dress they will be wearing than if their backhand is stellar. Or, even worse, that they might avoid lifting weights or training hard because they don't want to "bulk up" and look more like the muscular athletes they are than catwalk models.

Of course, no similar trend has been noticed among the men. Apparently the tennis officials are just giving the people want they want -- and they think we would rather see pretty-but-weaker-players rather than the strong athletes that would show the best athletic competitions.

The question is, are they right?

Comments

[iluvsam]

Anna Kournikova never won a tournament­...why does anyone care about her....bec­ause she's attractive. It's sad.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

***Anna Kournikova never won a tournament­...why does anyone care about her....bec­ause she's attractive. It's sad.***

She won two Grand Slams in doubles with Martina Hingis, and collectively won 16 doubles titles.

Don't let the facts get in the way of bitterness.

[mymic1]

PUHLEEEEZE!

the williams sisters have won how many singles and DOUBLES titles?
the fact of the matter is that people pay attention to how many singles are won and let's keep it real here, how often has anna kuornikova appeared in a commercial with her singles partner?

What we are really talking about here is beauty as defined by a specific group that doesn't apply to all.

I can find hundreds of men who think both williams sisters are beautiful and sexy.

[rickvant]

Just a quick fact check here for all the haters...A­nna Kournikova has won 16 doubles titles in her career, including not one but two Grand Slam doubles titles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Kournikova

[Rrhain]

That simply begs the question: Given the lack of coverage regarding doubles, why is Kournikova such a media sensation? You don't see the Bryan brothers making the same headlines. Yes, she's a good doubles player, so why is she only hyped when she's playing singles where she's not nearly as good? Why are her televised matches those of her losing in singles rather than winning in doubles?

[JoyceBains]

Wow, two whole (doubles) Grand Slams? I guess that totally justifies the tens of millions of dollars in endorsements as opposed to...oh, I dunno...th­e five-time Wimbledon champion.

[Balzac]

All those girls look good, especially when they're not snarling like they're in a Gator-Aid commercial.

Seems like they're trying to keep Serena from getting too much attention, and also to hurt her ego a bit. Some proactive ego management can keep the passive-aggressive attackers off-balance.

Serena's show-stopping derrière and her lips have a lot to do with her appeal to men. It's about tactile experience, not only looks.

But both Williams sisters can look quite appealing in their glamor shots and It's hard to take my eyes off them.

[nik101]

The Williams' sisters will be on Centre Court -Saturday in the finals, you can bet on that!

[mergina]

"The female body is a work of art. The male body is utilitarian. It's for gettin' around. It's like a Jeep."

[Democrab]

The Williams girls are beautiful!

[ab73]

Huffposters, don't lazily swallow the rubbish from some blogger. Follow the facts yourself.

As others have pointed out, this article is mehhh

There have been 9 womens matches on Centre Court thus far.

6 of 9 have featured one of the "ugly" trio of Serena Williams, Venus Williams or Dinara Safina.

1 Featured Sharapova who may be pretty, but is a former Wimbledon Champion and would easily be a top 4 player if not for injury. She deserves a centre court moment.

That leaves 2 suspect matches:

Day5
It would have been impossible for the Williams sisters to play centre court as Serena had both a singles and a doubles match so the timing would have clashed with the Mens matches on centre court. Safina did not play that day. So instead we have Victoria Azarenka(BLR)[8] vs. Sorana Cirstea(ROU)[28] This was the only match between ranked opponents on that day and the first ranking match of the women's draw. Easily justifies a centre court position given the circumstances.

Day4
Couldn't be a Williams as Venus was playing singles + doubles. So those evil brits demoted Safina to Court 2 so that we could watch the 9th seed play a pretty girl.

[JoyceBains]

"The question is, are they right?"

Apparently not. These pretty-yet-nameless players aren't exactly putting butts in seats, at least not @ Wimby.

[Ohioan730]

I know a people of all races with all kinds of differing opinions about how the Williams sisters look. Comments were made about Billie Jean King's looks as well. Female athletes have always had to walk a balance between looking good and playing good or face scathing remarks about their "manly" or "plain" looks. Nobody gives ugly male athletes a hard time about their looks, even though I think the tennis world may be a little biased to good-looking men also. I dont keep up much with tennis but I cant remember an ugly male tennis player.

[libslayerguy]

How much do you pay attention to sports? Because I clearly remember one Mr. Charles Barkley calling Avery Johnson, when he was head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, 'ugly'. It was that simple and on a national TV broadcast.

Mens looks are evaluated, it just doesn't matter or get the attention.

[gwine71]

tell larry bird and dennis rodman that......­.

[jeanrenoir]

If what you say is true, it's another example of the disgusting side of British snobbery and shallowness in general. But who cares? The jokes on the Brits, isn't it? They can't keep Serena and Venus, usually playing each other, out of Center Court in the finals, now can they? Let the white "hotties" flash their panties all they want, the Williams sisters still demolish them every single year.

[bluescat47]

As someone who has played tennis for fifty years, I have to say if that is the case, it is revolting. Go Venus and Serena!

[JeffersonState]

Venus and Serena will both be playing on Centre (freakin brits, cant even spell) Court soon enough.

[GBGB]

Don't blame the Wimbledon organizers. I have to assume that they organize the location of the matches based upon demand, i.e., centre court is reserved for the matches and/or players that most of the spectators want to see. If more fans are interested in seeing certain players because they are attractive, that's not Wimbledon's fault.

[sabrinatee]

Right - this is a case of supply and demand of a product (face it, all the players are products). At the US Open golf tournament the crowd was screaming for Tiger Woods, even when he was playing badly - but then again he's really, really cute and charismatic. Safina and Williams not so much, even if they are superb players. The crowd dictates who gets the preferential treatment, and the Wimbledon people are only giving them what they want. It's the marketplace, people!

[nowickedwitch]

sadly the center court match with the "beauties" had many fewer fans, while the court where Venus was playing was jammed....­so much for that theory.

[qthedancer]

All I can say is... beach volleyball!

[GHO]

Exactly. I made the same point in an earlier post.

Imagine if you turned on a ballgame and saw the Cubs or the Lakers in Speedos. Never happen. But volleyball women parade around in 2 square inches more than a string bikini. The question is - what are the actual and target demographics for these sports. Obviously, they are trying to draw male viewers and not worrying about alienating females.

Not really a good state of affairs, but that's what it looks like.

[sighsigh]

seriously, this isn't just sexism, it's racism. the williams' are beautiful, but they are black, and the people in control of a tournament like wimbledon are old, white brits who dont think any women is attractive unless she has ivory skin and is 105lbs soaking wet.

[tpfahler]

I feel sorry for all the people that suffer real racism when it is trivialized by your uninformed angry post. As another poster pointed out the Williams sisters have bee on center court 4 times already during the tournament. Racism? I don't think so.

[FanofPaine]

That's the trouble with racism. It comes in many forms. Some racism is more brutal and in your face and some of it is this subtle crap, which sometimes comes off more offensive because outright racism is easy to deal with. This definitely has touches of racism. The idea that the black women aren't as pretty or are inferior despite their skills is definitely touching on institutional and long held racism, even if the Wimbledon people don't mean it to be.

[guajiro]

Not only that, but as we all know the Brits don't have fluoride in their water systems, hence their yellowed and often rotted teeth, which of course leads to headaches which leads to poor decision making about whom to put on what court as they suck garlic to try to relieve their toothaches.

[RobinLandseadel]

Charlotte Hilton Andersen: "The U.S.'s own Serena Williams (edited from original text "Venus": I'm an idiot and can't tell my Williams sisters apart. Thanks to everyone who pointed it out.) . . . "

Hey! It's like Miles Davis said: "These white tenor players---I can't tell them apart!"

[martinchill]

wow - major props for the intellectual zinger.