Serena Williams is arguably the most accomplished athlete on the planet. At the 2015 U.S. Open, she has a real chance to do something that's only been done once before (win all four majors in the same year -- tennis' equivalent of the Triple Crown). Sadly, you and a slew of tennis fans are only lukewarm to the idea of it happening.
You don't have to admit it. Nobody does. You know part of you admires her ability, but hates her with a passion. Much like the same way you do LeBron James or Anne Hathaway. We've heard countless ridiculous things like the way she celebrates grand slam wins by jumping up and down isn't "cool" or that she "doesn't look like a tennis player." You're right. Mobile, agile and hostile is how we describe our football teams. Or our toddlers. Not our tennis players. Nonetheless, I bet if your daughter plays competitive sports you'd love people to use those words to describe them. Who cares how Serena celebrates winning a grand slam? Is there some sort of book on decorum for how tennis players that learned the game in Compton are supposed to celebrate victories? I'm not sure Grand Slam Tennis Celebrations For Dummies made it to her local book store growing up. Sure, it is a little tacky to jump up and down after winning millions of dollars and a huge tennis tournament. But who cares? Are you going to hate someone forever if they cry tears of happiness in your honor after you give them the way at an all-way stop?
Maybe you're in the overloaded boat who hates the way she often spins every defeat with the tired "my opponent didn't win, I lost" narrative. Sure, this is hardly gracious, but isn't expecting her to say otherwise beyond ridiculous as well? Many great athletes hate to lose and are incredibly sore losers. This is an impossible debate. On one side the causal sports fan laments tennis for its lack of colorful characters and the ardent tennis fan criticizes Williams for her lack of grace in defeat. If she were to say her opponent was too good people would say she's being dishonest or giving a canned response, but when she says how she feels she comes off as arrogant. That's kind of like celebrating Batman for saving the world on one hand and then Gotham City conservatives complaining about tax dollars used to pay for city damages on the other.
Let's compare Serena with Roger Federer, her contemporary on the men's side. When he comes off as arrogant we call it charming and assume it's unintentional because it probably is. English is his fourth or fifth language. Nonetheless, his modest humblebragging has warranted giggles. How about this gem from last week's Western & Southern Financial Open after downing Novak Djokovic? I really hope for you that you can win here one day. Of course (Djokovic) deserves it -- come on. So close, so many years," Federer said about his defeated opponent after winning the event for a seventh time. I don't think Serena would be allowed back in Ohio if she said something like that.
Or perhaps you haven't gotten over the time she yelled at an umpire after a foot fault. Again, she's not exactly going to win any sportsmanship awards for those 2-3 minutes of her life, but that was in 2009. I think we can all agree we've seen worse from athletes since then, and isn't an ejection of some sort featured on SportsCenter's Top 10 every night? I'm no baseball expert and the mics are muted, but I'm sure when those club managers are yelling at the umpires they aren't inviting them over for Christmas. Serena Williams has one disqualification in her career. Michael Jordan? 11 times. Sure, she should be justly reprimanded and criticized, but giving her a life-sentence of your hatred is like giving a college-freshman the death penalty for public urination. Which brings up another minor detail. As "bad" as we often believe Serena to behave she still hasn't partaken in illegal dog-fighting, been involved in high-speed chases, accused of sexual assault or been remotely involved in any sort of public scandal. She hasn't even allegedly called one of her rivals a cancer patient yet. What gives?
Life's certainly not all bad for Serena. She has millions of fans and is the best in the world at what she does, but you get the feeling that even with her current fame and adulation it should be higher. She doesn't come close to Maria Sharapova in off-court endorsements, something Serena has always taken in stride, even though Sharapova hasn't beaten her since John Kerry was running for president (2004). Take this recent Nike photo-op of tennis' who's-who for example. If this was a company photo for tennis' biggest stars, you'd think Sharapova, Eugenie Bouchard and Madison Keys (a hardy handshake and a long-stare to the tennis nut that knows who all three of those people are) were senior management and Serena Williams was an intern. Serena also has the most accomplished tennis resume of anyone in the photo (that includes Federer and Rafael Nadal). Doesn't anyone see anything wrong with this?
Admit it, you hate Serena Williams and, lucky for you, you aren't alone. Can we really not get behind someone that's come from the ghetto and massively succeeded in a traditionally cut-throat and global country-club sport, gives graciously, survived life-threatening illness, and the shadow of an extremely-talented older sister?
Apparently not if they're named Serena.