Serena Williams

Serena Williams has just won the Wimbledon tennis tournament. One of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world by beating the Spaniard Garbine Magunuza for her 21st victory in a major tournament. Serena, as she has been playing lately, started slowly, but eventually put on a fantastic display of athleticism, power, and unflinching nerves in pulling out the victory.

Unfortunately, this beautiful African American woman with the very voluptuous body has seen the media do nothing but talk about how much she looks like a man as opposed to her prowess as the queen of the game of tennis. An article in the New York Times discusses Serena's biceps and booty size and in an interview, her defeated opponent talked about not wanting to develop her body to look like Serena's because "she is still a girl and wants to look like one".

The reports about Serena's body and looks are nothing new. Ever since she and Venus broke onto the lilly white tennis scene, their entire family has been under fire by the white media. While winning as young girls, all that was talked about were the white beads that they wore in their hair.

Their father was chastised by the media because he managed them and refused to turn them over to the IMG Tennis Academy in Florida where all of the up and coming white tennis prodigies are sent to play tennis and attend school.  Richard Williams has had a wonderful attitude through it all by remaining very Black by telling them all to "buck off".

It is quite amazing that, in tennis, unless you look like Maria Sharapova or some other long, lean, flat bottomed European woman with blond hair, the white male dominated media will continue to paint a very negative picture of your physical appearance.

Ms. Sharapova has lost to Serena 17 straight times and yet, she makes twice as much in endorsement money as Serena. Do you remember, Anna Kournikova, the blond "Serbian beauty" who never, ever won a major tournament? She made more money that Serena in endorsements.

Serena and her sister Venus, and as a matter of fact, her entire family  has remained above the fray while not allowing these terrible characterizations about their looks to keep them from achieving their enormous and financially rewarding goals. These two sisters have just purchased a part of one of the most lucrative businesses in the United States of America. The Miami Dolphins football team.

Sidebar: For those of you who don't understand the financial arrangements of the NFL, each team starts the season in the black with all expenses paid by its TV contract. So, the very first season ticket sold is profit.

African Americans have always shoved their blackness in the face of white people just by showing up when everybody in the world knew that they are not wanted. Before Venus and Serena, these bold demonstrations were called "sit-ins".

It is also quite interesting that as much as the media attempted to create "drama" where there was none, the Williams family, even through divorce of the parents has remained a tight knit group of African Americans with one goal in mind and that was to ensure that their two daughters will dominate women's tennis for as long as they can, while silently watching the white media take very insensitive and biased shots at them.

Also, it is quite interesting that these two very proud and articulate Black women have grown up under the very watchful eye of the white establishment and conducted themselves with the grace that is befitting of the royalty that they are. Now, if the media could treat Serena like the superb champion tennis player that she is, and talk about her game instead of her body and how she looks, it would be just another step at breaking down that wall of racism that we all know still exists in this country.

Mad Man