I can only imagine the mistreatment you must have been subjected to playing in such a white dominated sport. But you clearly must have had the strength to continue to participate in spite of this. I have been watching tennis for a number of years and observed the way Venus & Serena have been constantly negatively portrayed as coming from the ghetto etc etc constantly referring to other players being smarter players and only ever referring to both sister’s power, athleticism and them supposedly overly intimidating their opponents. It’s all very tiresome.

I played tennis for 15 years between the junior tennis circuit, and #1 singles and doubles in college. Crystal is a pseudonym. I have played in Country Clubs all over this nation. The racism is glaring and in your face. Thank you for putting it so succinctly. The Williams sisters have been outcasts from day one due to their skin color. I refuse to dress it up as anything else!

Serena’s comments were unacceptable, but she certainly wasn’t any more offensive than John McEnroe who regularly berated the lines judges, umpires, and anyone else who was in his path on a bad day. Lleyton Hewitt being perhaps one of the most offensive when he accused a line judge of calling lines in James Blake’s favor because they were both Black.

The commentators, particularly, Mary Carillo and Mary Jo Fernandez, can barely hide their disdain for the Williams sisters when they are covering their matches. I find it almost hilarious that everyone cites Venus Williams as almost a saint compared to Serena now that she is losing. How ridiculously transparent!

Also, does anyone else remember that when Serena lost in the Semis to Clijsters when the ridiculous foot fault call was made, everyone was saying that she was 2 points away from losing the match anyway. They stated that the match was already decided. Her win at the U.S. Open this year proved that idiotic comment to be wrong as well. She and Venus have come back many times from being down match points and won the matches in similar situations. I almost found it hilarious that in both Serena’s Semi and Final matches this year they tried the same tactics as last year and the year prior to make her lose control…the ominous foot faults! I’m glad she was able to ignore them.

On a final note, at Wimbledon they made such a big deal about Radwanska taking her to 3 sets in the Final. I found it laughable that they acted as if this was because Radwanska “hung in there”. If anyone recalls, the momentum in the second set clearly changed when a winner that Serena hit was 2 or 3 feet inside the line (literally) and the line judge called it out. Radwanska clearly had no play on the ball, but they were instructed to replay the point.

We won’t even address how despicable the commentators have spoken about Serena’s physique. I certainly would LOVE to be so overweight and win so many Grand Slams!(-: