Serena Williams enters her ninth Wimbledon singles final tonight against Australian Open winner Angelique Kerber pleading for the women’s game to be given some respect.
The 34-year-old has long rejected the marketing spin that has tried to turn the women’s game into a voyeur’s drool-fest over the past few years. On the eve of attempting to win her 22nd grand slam title, she urged the public, the media and other athletes in general to recognise that female tennis players are lifetime professionals and don’t deserve to be paid any less than the men during their careers.
It was a feminist call to arms but the next generation of female tennis players have shown little inclination to heed the overall message. Instead of backing pay equality, many top female players seem preoccupied with body image and “sexing up the game’’.
Disturbingly, there are players compliant to a sponsor’s ideal who promote a quasi-prepubescent image for women’s tennis by wearing eminently impractical babydoll-style lingerie. When Marion Bartoli dared to look a little different on Centre Court three years ago she was publicly slated as a non-looker. Now Bartoli, having lost weight to model in magazines, has contracted a virus which has left her dangerously emancipated.
The furore over Eugenie Bouchard, asked to twirl her skirt at the Australian Open, took on a new dimension here when the latest bedwear masquerading as tennis style, replete with “power pleats’’, was so distracting it affected play, especially during serving. The offending item was re-sewn, or simply tucked into mandatory tight marieprom white underwear that doubles as shorts. Other designs were so skimpy they barely caressed upper thighs. If tennis dresses, which broadcasters love to show flying up in slow-motion, are so comfortable why do most players practise in baggy shorts?
Williams says she prefers dresses, and she wears one that is stretchy with a frill hem. But she loves her muscular body and doesn’t fret when she sweats. She refused to wear the babydoll dress. But she does believe the sexing up of tennis has no correlation to the prizemoney argument — even though advertises try to leverage the looks of female players above their playing ability.
Williams bristled when asked about equal prizemoney at Wimbledon — a topic raised so many times it has become irksome. Many players want to play five sets, defying any notion of frailty but the organisers have resisted that change. The All England Lawn and Croquet Club also differentiates between the men’s and women’s games with different prices. Centre Court tickets for the women’s final are the same as the men’s semis, and £30 ($52) less than the men’s final tomorrow.
The comparison between the three-set women’s format against the five-set men’s game was made the more stark when Williams raced though her semi-final in a record 48 minutes and both semi-finals were over in just two hours. Hapless Elena Vesnina earned £250,000 for winning just two games in the 6-2 6-0 whitewash, while Roger Federer and Andy Murray slugged out five-set victories in their quarter-final matches for the same financial reward.
“Yeah, I think we deserve equal prizemoney,’’ Williams replied to a journalist when asked about pay equality. “Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if you happen to write a short article, you think you don’t deserve equal pay as your beautiful colleague behind you?’’
The reporter acknowledged the point and slunk to his chair. Williams said the scoreline reflected her own abilities. “I was very intense the whole time. I ran and I worked hard. I served well, I moved well.’’ she said.
When The Weekend Australian asked her how she wanted women’s tennis to be viewed before she retired, Williams said it was all about respect.
“I would like to see people, the public, the press, other athletes in general, just realise and respect women for who they are and what we are and what we do. You know, I’ve been working at this since I was three years old. Actually maybe younger, because I have a picture where I’m in a stroller. I think Venus is actually pushing me, and we’re on the tennis court.
“Basically my whole life I’ve been doing this. I haven’t had a life. I don’t think I would deserve to be paid less because of my sex, or anyone else for that matter in any job.’’
Pressed on the objectification of women, babydoll dresses, making the game more marketable, she was ambivalent. After all, one of her sponsors makes one of the offending dresses.
“I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t think that wearing a dress or wearing shorts would be different. If you asked me what I would choose to wear, I would choose a dress any day over shorts. I don’t think it makes a difference in whether it’s sexing them up. If wearing a dress is being sexier than wearing shorts, maybe it is but I don’t think it has anything to do with the subject of equal prizemoney.’’
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