Wimbledon - the great British tradition of watching other people work hard
I've been a Wimbledon watcher for a few years now that I live in the same city as the event - don't bother with other tennis, but it's been a great bonding experience in our office this year. (Just watched Murray win it, at last - well done.)
This year I felt I was watching footwork, distance and timing in a way I hadn't before, particularly comparing singles to doubles, and long-armed, long-legged players vs more compact players.
Years ago I went to a Players invitational in Toronto, in the bad old days when cigarette companies could sponsor sports. And I managed to catch a glimpse of Chris Evert (Lloyd, at the time) from just a few feet away, and was astonished: she was a compact woman (5'6" says Wikipedia), but she was solid muscle - she had thighs that looked thicker than my body. Again, Wiki says she was 126lbs as a player. I've no idea if things like weights are accurate, but that would suggest she was nothing but muscle.
This year's winner is Marion Bartoli: she's 5'7", 139lbs according to Wimbledon stats, and absolutely block-shaped front-on; the knit sundresses this year seem to show all the womens' rows of abs and she looks, on TV, round and blobby.
Her lack of 'looks', the fact her opponent was a charming German Amazon with a delightful toothy smile (5'10", 154 lbs says Wimbledon) with thick blonde braids, really played against her.
Not just the crowd, but the commentators had all set up their 'stories' to be about Sabine Lisicki the German: it was about her 'getting it back' getting into the game, getting serve back, and a dozen other variants on 'jeez, she seems to be screwing up wickedly'.
Bartoli had beaten her semi final opponent in straight sets, in about an hour. Brilliant but precious little remarked on it. Lisicki had fought to the last game to the very end in her semi, and was lauded.
It seemed that as Lisicki steadily lost the game, handing away points to her opponent by making mistakes, crying between games, Bartoli could gain precious little credit whatsoever for winning hers, for keeping her head together, for staying in the game the whole time, for returning beautifully, for anticipating shots (L Davenport did remark on this last point, that she had 'great hands').
Even afterward in the analysis everyone struggled to say anything nice that wasn't guarded. She's been around for 15 years, 'she hasn't had it easy' and this is her first grand slam win, so this 'gives hope to everyone' rather than being fucking brilliant. Austin pointed out that it was a final 'without Williams', as if Serena Williams had somehow declined to play instead of being beaten out.
Bartoli has won after 47 grand slam entries - again this seems a strike against her instead acknowledgement for accomplishment. T. Austin says,'we may not see her in a grand slam again'. WTF? on what grounds?
SO: well done Bartoli, the sweet, gracious, slightly gobsmacked winner. She's not tall blonde and model-ish. She's someone who worked her butt off to get where she is, and deserves just a bit more respect and gracious courtesy for her accomplishments.
Why is this tagged politics? because I think it's little short of sexist mysogyny: we like our Wimbledon underdogs to be beautiful, not just underdogs.
Awesome game: shame about the commentators who had made up their minds before the game, and were so damned slow to come round to see the game as it was actually being played, rather than the game they'd expected.
This year I felt I was watching footwork, distance and timing in a way I hadn't before, particularly comparing singles to doubles, and long-armed, long-legged players vs more compact players.
Years ago I went to a Players invitational in Toronto, in the bad old days when cigarette companies could sponsor sports. And I managed to catch a glimpse of Chris Evert (Lloyd, at the time) from just a few feet away, and was astonished: she was a compact woman (5'6" says Wikipedia), but she was solid muscle - she had thighs that looked thicker than my body. Again, Wiki says she was 126lbs as a player. I've no idea if things like weights are accurate, but that would suggest she was nothing but muscle.
This year's winner is Marion Bartoli: she's 5'7", 139lbs according to Wimbledon stats, and absolutely block-shaped front-on; the knit sundresses this year seem to show all the womens' rows of abs and she looks, on TV, round and blobby.
Her lack of 'looks', the fact her opponent was a charming German Amazon with a delightful toothy smile (5'10", 154 lbs says Wimbledon) with thick blonde braids, really played against her.
Not just the crowd, but the commentators had all set up their 'stories' to be about Sabine Lisicki the German: it was about her 'getting it back' getting into the game, getting serve back, and a dozen other variants on 'jeez, she seems to be screwing up wickedly'.
Bartoli had beaten her semi final opponent in straight sets, in about an hour. Brilliant but precious little remarked on it. Lisicki had fought to the last game to the very end in her semi, and was lauded.
It seemed that as Lisicki steadily lost the game, handing away points to her opponent by making mistakes, crying between games, Bartoli could gain precious little credit whatsoever for winning hers, for keeping her head together, for staying in the game the whole time, for returning beautifully, for anticipating shots (L Davenport did remark on this last point, that she had 'great hands').
Even afterward in the analysis everyone struggled to say anything nice that wasn't guarded. She's been around for 15 years, 'she hasn't had it easy' and this is her first grand slam win, so this 'gives hope to everyone' rather than being fucking brilliant. Austin pointed out that it was a final 'without Williams', as if Serena Williams had somehow declined to play instead of being beaten out.
Bartoli has won after 47 grand slam entries - again this seems a strike against her instead acknowledgement for accomplishment. T. Austin says,'we may not see her in a grand slam again'. WTF? on what grounds?
SO: well done Bartoli, the sweet, gracious, slightly gobsmacked winner. She's not tall blonde and model-ish. She's someone who worked her butt off to get where she is, and deserves just a bit more respect and gracious courtesy for her accomplishments.
Why is this tagged politics? because I think it's little short of sexist mysogyny: we like our Wimbledon underdogs to be beautiful, not just underdogs.
Awesome game: shame about the commentators who had made up their minds before the game, and were so damned slow to come round to see the game as it was actually being played, rather than the game they'd expected.