Is anyone else sick of the "All Williams" tennis final?

I don't really care until their Dad gets on my TV and accuses everybody from God on down of being a racist.

 

LOL!

I really don't care either. I don't watch tennis and so I just don't care. Uh....I don't care.

 

Hey RC!!! How ya doin' buddy?

It's true though. Whenever something doesn't go the Williams' way...their daddy cries racism. It's repellant.

 

Doin' good, thank you. And you?

Yeah, I've been hearing a lot lately from him. I remember him and Capriati (Sp?) going at it and him being concerned about Serena's stalker. The sport's world sure is interesting.

 

From today's NYTimes:

For Williams Sisters, Ambivalence Persists

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN

How can anyone who watched Venus Williams dispatch Amélie Mauresmo and Serena Williams blast her way past Lindsay Davenport yesterday do anything but say amen?

The Williams sisters are the higher bar in women's tennis: fashion, style, power, precision. Still, there is this persistent ambivalence about the sisters.
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Venus held off Mauresmo, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in the first United States Open semifinal; Serena rode a monster serve and beat Davenport, 6-3, 7-5. Now comes the challenge. They meet tonight for the fourth time in a Grand Slam final amid renewed complaints that they don't play exciting championship matches against each other.

Against the rest of the world, they take an aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach; against each other, critics say, they play polite tennis. The crux of the problem, if you can call it that, is love.

Someone asked Venus if tonight's championship match would be different, if she would be able to put aside "the sister stuff" and play Serena like any other opponent.

Venus asked: "Where's the problem?"

The reporter said that before, there almost seemed to be too much love. Venus arched her eyebrows. "Too much love?" she said, and left it at that.

The Williams sisters' dominance has caused a crisis, or at least angst, in tennis circles. Tennis fans are deeply divided. There are those who love excellence and want to see the No. 1 and 2 players face each other in the final round. Others feel great players' playing lackluster finals hurts tennis.

Venus Williams reacted defensively when asked where she stood on the issue. "I don't see why the question could be relevant, why it would be bad for tennis," she said. Venus noted that before she and her sister began dominating championship play, this question never came up. "It's never been asked before," she said.

That's precisely the point. The question has never been asked before because no siblings have done what Venus and Serena are in the process of doing.

We're all trying to put our minds around a stunning evolution: two sisters who, four years ago, were sympathetic underdogs. Now they virtually own the franchise. They have found their way and blazed a new path, a path so grueling that none of their peers can negotiate it.

So the best fans can do is criticize the Williams sisters and try to pull them back to earth.

Venus was down by 0-40 while leading, 5-4, in the third set. Fans loudly cheered for Mauresmo. Why? Williams is the defending champion, but Mauresmo was the underdog. Oracene Williams, the sisters' mother, said she felt the crowd reaction had racist overtones. Cheering against the defending champion, cheering double faults.

Oracene Williams said she felt the crowd was reacting not just to this match but to a pair of strong African-American women.

"I've been thinking about it and I think that's it."

She said she did not sense antipathy toward James Blake. "I guess women can't have power, no matter what race it is," she said. "That's a problem in America. It's ridiculous."

The issue is a bit more complex than that, but race is at the core. I have no doubt that if Jennifer Capriati or Davenport had a sister who was as great as she was and they ruled tennis the way Venus and Serena rule, the embrace would be overwhelming and positive. There would be no ambivalence about their playing each other.

At the same time, you can go mad thinking about this nonsense. Are the crowds cheering against Venus or are they pulling for Mauresmo? Cheering the underdog or pulling against a Williams sisters rematch?

The sisters have turned a corner, and so have I; so have a lot of us. My heart is no longer in my throat when Venus and Serena play. This was not the case four years ago when every stroke, every passing shot, every crowd reaction seemed like a veiled referendum on women, African-Americans, two unique newcomers to a country club sport. The beads, the braids, the style, the novelty of it all were intense and bursting with implications for race and gender.

Racism and sexism are indelibly stitched into the fabric of our ambitious democracy. If you are a woman, if you are African-American, you have to work harder, longer, be twice as good to get as much. If you are African-American and a woman, you'd better be Venus or Serena. They play better, harder, longer and with more precision and power than any other Tour player.

Like it or not — and I love it — we will get Venus and Serena again tonight. We'll get them until someone finds a way to do better.

And I don't want to hear another complaint about wanting to see something different. Trust me: you already are.

 

Hmm...this sounds familar, Refman.

 

I like both of them and I think that, if you want something different, make the other players more talented. End of story.

I think their parents are nuts, personally, but whatever. There is no question, however, that there have been some racist overtones to questions asked, references made, etc. But, that shouldn't be surprising considering they are so huge and they are the first black women to really dominate the sport of tennis.

However, they could sure do without mom and dad acting like fools and embarrassing them.

 

i would if i liked tennis.

 

I used to quite enjoy watching tennis, but now it's getting real boring. Williams vs. Williams, now that's a snoozefest. Or Williams vs. anyone for that matter. Have they even had a match that last longer than 1 hour???

 

What can they do? Is it their fault that they are the two best women tennis players on the planet?! Personally, I love watching the best players play! So, if that means Williams v.s. Williams for the next five years, then so be it. It's up to the rest of the field to catch up to them.....

 

go sjeng. samps should go home happy with bridgette wilson. lucky sob.

 

Tennis died for me when Graf retired. Fortunately mens tennis is getting better and better. Hopefully Pete and Andre can make it to the finals. That would be classic.


But yeah....screw the Predator sister. I hate em.

 

Great genes. They are bigger, stronger and faster than anyone else out there. They're also more athletic.

 

Build a better mouse trap, and Mother Nature will build a better mouse. Or something like that....


We just have to wait until a more powerful, more athletic female tennis player comes along.

 

Or Gunther Parche with a steak knife.

 

To me the reason people dislike the Williams sisters isn't so much because of them...it's because of their parents. This isn't anything new though...Steffi Graf, Tiger Woods and Dominique Mocheanu (sp?). Just another in a long long line. The Williams sisters will grow out of any perceived brashness, etc. Give them time...they are still very young and are under daddy's wing.

 

OMG...their Mom's name is Oracene???!!!! Isn't that the stuff you put on your gums when you have a toothache?

 

I never get tired of watching Serena. She's off the hook and she's got a big'ol butt

 

I love the Williams sisters... They're the most intriguing personalities and athletes in present day tennis... however, watching them match up against each other is dull, dull, dull... they lose that killer instinct and its obvious they're not comfortable playing each other in a grand slam final... that being said someone needs to step up and challenge them... until than, more power to the Williams family!

As for Papa Williams...
He just can't seem to go 1 week without getting his name in the headlines... He seems to crave the spotlight more for himself than his children... sad.