The US Tennis Open, which has to be the greatest spectacle in sport with its gladiatorial contests that can go on late into the night and early into the next morning. A single shot can decide a game, a set, a match and a Championship and will be accompanied by roars that echo into the heavens. Fittingly the major battles are played out in the Colosseum like stadiums named after Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong. Ashe was the first African American to win the US, Wimbledon and Australian opens, a victim to Aids via a blood transfusion and a winner and pioneer in so many arenas. Louis “Satchmo" Armstrong was a beloved native of New York and one of the trailblazers of jazz and arguably its greatest exponent.The whole tennis complex with its numerous courts was recently christened the Billie Jean King US Tennis Association Center in honor of yet another tennis great this time renowned for her struggle for equality for women’s tennis, gay rights and her tireless efforts for these and other causes. So this battle for world tennis supremacy has as its backdrop a gigantic complex that celebrates excellence as well as championing the underdog and those who have overcome adversity. The screaming fans, no polite clapping here, whose support oscillates between the excellent and the underdog reflect this culture.
All this by way of introduction of the hype and near hysteria that this year surrounds the number one women’s seed Serena Williams and to a far lesser extent her elder sister Venus Williams. Serena at the time of writing is on her way to history. If she wins the US Open she will have a calendar slam, having won the Australian, French and Wimbledon Opens this year. This last calendar slam was achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988. In addition Graf has won the most open slams in the “Open Tennis Era”, 22. And if somehow you have been in a coma these past two weeks if Serena wins this 2015 US Open she will equal Steffi’s magical number.
THE MEDIA BLAST
The blast involves all the media from the internet to the published media of all sorts all backed by a flood of advertisements featuring the Golden girl Serena. Chase Manhattan have featured her almost incessantly on TV and the Internet while Gatorade commissioned twenty one murals in Brooklyn NY featuring her winning each one of her slams to date accompanied by a touching advertisement tribute. She has been featured on several magazine covers. To give some idea of the coverage that Serena has evoked let us look at the reportage of Day 5 of the US Open in the media and internet:
Firstly there is extensive reportage of the previous days match such as “Serena loses first set but rallies to beat Mattek Sands" and ” Serena reaches her third step to history - four more to go”.Then there were articles as to how ok it was to be nervous and articles as to why she was nervous. (Maybe she had just been following the media who to date had not commented as to what the world would be like if she didn’t win - presumably fearful of the emptiness the hopelessness that such a catastrophe would evoke.) Then there were at least 10 videos on the internet on highlights from game three the round where 64 players had entered. In addition it was thought appropriate to run videos of previous slams.
The headline that put it all into perspective was run on the ESPN website - “ Day Five - Five developments not involving Serena”.
WHY THIS MEDIA FOCUS?
Before we go much further Jay H. Ell agrees with the unanimous assessment that Serena is not only the greatest women tennis player ever but the greatest women athlete. The question that needs answering is why the most comprehensive wall to wall coverage is being meted out that is usually reserved for the issue to du jour such as a hurricane disaster, a mass school/cinema murder, Shandra Levy’s disappearance, 9/11…. . No sports event ever amasses this type of continuos coverage - not the baseball or basketball play offs and sometimes the Super Bowl. Jay H. Ell was around when Steffi not only won the calendar slam in addition she triumphed with the Wimbledon Gold Medal and while the media covered this feat appropriately it was still considered very much business as usual. So why this frenzy?
THE CAREERS OF VENUS AND SERENA AS COMPARED TO FEDERER
Could it be the greatest record in tennis that has unleashed the floodgates?
Since 1997 to this day one or other Williams sister has dominated the women’s tennis scene. Serena has won just in case you missed it earlier in this piece, 21 Grand Slams and Serena 9. As partners they have 13 Doubles Grand Slams. While for the large part Venus dominated the earlier part of their careers their victories have been interspersed, The first of their trophies was the 1997 US Open won by Venus and Serena won in 1999. Venus last victories in Slams were at Wimbledon in 2005, 2007 and 2008. In the latter tournament she beat Serena and in 2005 and 2007 Serena was on the injured list. A large part of both their pilgrimages have been punctuated by illnesses or injuries.
All in all pretty impressive but if you were seriously looking for a feature on the basis of performance it would had to have been Federer. Federer is also pushing the mid thirties has had two main rivals, every step of the way of his career, Nadal and Djokovic who between them have won 23 Slams. Venus and Serena’s most serious rivals were each other. In fact over the past three years when Serena has won 8 of the 13 Slams she has played a host of opponents and along the way her challengers have been shortlived. Federer’s consistency over the decade and a half has been amazing having been World number one for the longest period of any player and has the highest recorded number of slams in mens tennis 17. In addition he has won the World Tennis Championship 6 times and has won a record 295 Grand Slam matches and been in more consecutive semifinals 23 and quarter finals 46 than anyone else. He has been consistently ranked first, second or third spot for nearly his whole career. Serena’s rankings over her nearly twenty playing years have been all over the place. There is little doubt that he is the greatest tennis player of all time and arguably one of the greatest athletes of all time. He is playing the best tennis having just won the US Open dress rehearsal in Cincinnati beating Murray and Djokovic. The tennis world, for what it is worth, is watching his progress in an extremely tough mens field with greater interest. By contrast Serena’s best competition in this open was Venus. For the rest they are in and out with no one but no one stamping themselves as a great.
So as impressive as Serena’s record that is not the reason for getting the Katrina like treatment.
THE AMERICAN STORY
As Jay H. Ell has blogged American aristocracy derives from money, and those that are cheered and revered are regarded as winners and or victims. Celebrities from the entertainment world, especially where a ball is involved, are adored. The Williams’ have all these attributes in addition to a story that is remarkable. It is their rags to riches log cabin bit that brings tears to everyone’s eyes. Even more important Serena is American and her supportive, loyal and friendship relationship with her older sister is endearing - apple pie and mother’s milk.
In the beginning daddy Richard Williams trained his two phemons on public courts. With virtually no tennis experience in a world where there are tennis academies and high priced coaches he did it all from scratch. He wrote a seventy eight page plan for their training and future and carried it out. As Serena opined with only two players he produced 30 Grand Slam wins a feat rarely achieved by the most prestigious coaches with several proteges. John McEnroe, marveling at his achievement, questioned incredulously, “How does he do it?” Richard kept them out of the Junior Tournaments as he felt there was racial prejudice so they were robbed of early acclimatization to competitive tennis. When finally they entered the professional ranks the young girls were not part of the club and kept very much to themselves. In 2001 at a time when there were repeated unsubstantiated accusations of match fixing by their father, an injured Venus pulled out of the prestigious Indian Wells Tennis Tournament in her semi final match against Serena. The angry crowd booed and jeered Serena throwing out racist slurs. A shattered and frightened Serena never returned to Indian Wells till 2014 when under the influence of Nelson Mandela’s philosophy of the power of forgiveness returned. Over the years in spite of a few high profile court incidents she carved out for herself a resume of charity foundation work and a reputation for guts and perseverance and ultimately serenity.
Venus, too, gaining in confidence with every year on the tour, became a much admired role model, an activist for women in a quiet and dignified manner. Both of them had other interests and become more and more admired for all their activities. Most significantly their touching supportive relationship and friendship when on the court they were fierce competitors has been featured more and more in the media. Both of them endured ongoing injuries and long periods away from the game. Serena suffered a life threatening pulmonary embolus and Venus was recently diagnosed with an energy sapping autoimmune disease. Yet both of them publicly express gratitude at their blessings. Both of them have come to terms with their tennis points of compass - Venus - that Serena is the better player - Serena, - as Victoria Azarenka has observed, that unlike everyone else rather than wanting to win, - just refuses to lose!
They are moneyed winners who have overcome adversity and Serena shows unbelievable guts and tenacity having won 10 of 11 grand slam matches when she was a set down. They operate on a world stage and as Americans they have dominated for 15 years.
THE AMERICAN STORY CONTINUES
At the time of writing the story is ongoing. As if scripted, Serena, in the quarter finals, beat her only realistic competition, 35 year old Venus, in this the 2015 US Open. She did this after losing the second set to Venus, 6 -1. The two hugged endearingly at the net after the match played to a packed crowd in the crucible of the Arthur Ashe stadium. Donald Trump having been bumped off the media focus by Serena, also as if scripted, arrived to watch the Serena - Venus quarter final. Donald also is a quintessential New Yorker and why shouldn’t he bask in the Williams’ limelight, especially as he is running for President? Maybe he is a tennis fan? This all adds up to be show business which is makes zany America tick. And New York, where The Donald is unlikely to garner too many votes, included him in on the night that belonged to them.The drama is being enacted in the stadium where the Williams sisters love to play, in their own American Open which is their favorite tournament where they are embraced by all Americans - as everyone witnesses the Great American Dream come true. If the masses needed any assurance that the Dream was not a myth they are once again being reminded by the fairy tale story of the Williams’ playing out before their very eyes.
Serena is the leading lady in a sensational heart tugging story that whichever way it ends the ending has been declared happy. To join in the metaphorical madness she has two more mountains to climb in her seven step journey to history. The nation watches stroke by stroke to the beat of the commentaries of icons of former years, John McEnroe, (how can anyone not take it all in when the maven McEnroe tells you how privileged he is to watch Federer again), and Chris Evert both of whom are willing history on. To keep in the idiom just watch when Serena crowns her achievement on Saturday. The very private Steffi Graf, now an American citizen, will be persuaded, if she hasn’t been already, to present Serena the trophy and we will all go ballistic because we will know that all is well in the USA and therefore the world…..
And finally if Serena wins the Founding Fathers will at last have something to celebrate ............
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