CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Serena Williams Turns 38!

Although she doesn't celebrate birthdays due to her professed Jehovah's Witness faith, Serena Williams birthday is this week (Thursday September 26) when she turned 38 years old. She is one of only four women who have been ranked in the Top 10 over the age of 38: Venus Williams (38 years and 29 days), Martina Navratilova (38 years and 75 days), and Billie Jean King (39 years 322 days).

Amazingly, for the second year in a row, Serena reached 2 consecutive major finals (Wimbledon and U.S. Open) and lost both of them without winning a set. Regardless, I still have confidence that she will eventually win major title number 24.

Happy Birthday, G.O.A.T.!

QUEER QUOTE: Obama Confirms Olympic Delegation With Open LGBT People Was Deliberate

In case people were wondering that the fact that the official U.S. delegation to the Sochi Olympics has numerous openly LGBT people (such as Olympic figure skater Brian Boitano) on it was a coincidence, President Obama confirmed yesterday that it was indeed a deliberate choice.

"There is no doubt we wanted to make it very clear that we do not abide by discrimination in anything, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. One of the wonderful things about the Olympics is that you are judged by your merit, how good you are regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love and that I think is consistent with the spirit of the Olympics."

This quote is today's Queer Quote. Looks like Google was not alone in making it's stance on LGBT equality clear to Russia!

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Brian Boitano, Olympic Figure Skater, Comes Out As Gay

Brian Boitano is a former Olympic figure skater who won the 1988 Gold medal in Men's Figure Saking and was named this week by President Obama to a delegation to the Winter  Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The Sochi Olympics are becoming a media controversy because they are being held in a notoriously homophobic country so it was notable that the American delegation did not include any high-ranking elected or appointed officials but did include two openly LGBT individuals: tennis great Billie Jean King  and hockey player Caitlin Cahow.

Boitano, 50, was also named to the Sochi delegation and although his sexuality had long been gossiped about, Boitano made it official that he is a gay man by releasing this statement:

I am currently skating in Europe but want to provide a statement regarding my appointment to the Olympic delegation. I have been fortunate to represent the United States of America in three different Olympics, and now I am honored to be part of the presidential delegation to the Olympics in Sochi. It has been my experience from competing around the world and in Russia that Olympic athletes can come together in friendship, peace and mutual respect regardless of their individual country's practices. 

 

It is my desire to be defined by my achievements and my contributions. While I am proud to play a public role in representing the American Olympic Delegation as a former Olympic athlete, I have always reserved my private life for my family and friends and will continue to do so. I am many things: a son, a brother, and uncle, a friend, an athlete, a cook, an author, and being gay is just one part of who I am. First and foremost I am an American athlete and I am proud to live in a country that encourages diversity, openness and tolerance. As an athlete, I hope we can remain focused on the Olympic spirit which celebrates achievement in sport by peoples of all nations.

So, now there are three openly gay members of the delegation to the Sochi Olympics. This should get interesting!

CHARLESTON 2013: Serena Wins 49th WTA Title (Over Jankovic)

AP/Mic Smith

As I predicted, Serena Williams won her 3rd consecutive Family Circle Cup title by defeating Jelena Jankovic, 3-6 6-0 6-2, in Charleston, S.C. Jankovic played fearlessly and well, and deserved to win the first set. Serena failed to convert 5 break points in the 4th game of the 1st set and was promptly broken at love in her service game and went on to lose the first set 3-6 after getting broken again. In her win over sister Venus Williams on Saturday, Serena had had zero unforced errors in the first set but against Jankovic she had 12. Serena was able to break early in the 2nd set and consolidated the break.

The key moment in the match was the 3rd game of the second set with Jankovic serving when Serena put up her racquet saying she wasn't ready. Jankovic has a habit of not looking at the receiver when she serves and has been accused of "quick serving" opponents on multiple occasions. According to Sports Illustrated, here's what happened:

Jankovic: “How long do I have to wait?”Serena: “Until I’m ready. I don’t play slow.”Jankovic: “But you go like this [crouching in return position]Serena: “Honestly, you got a problem? I’m not the one.”

It was quite an extraordinarily dramatic moment for a tennis match (watch it yourself here). Unfortunately for Jankovic, the end result was that she lost the next 4 games and the set after the verbal exchange. It appeared to lower the level of her play and raise Serena's. Serena ended the match by winning 12 of the last 14 games. Her first clay court win over Jankovic improved her career head-to-head to 6-4.

In the end, Serena finished the match with 39 winners to 25 unforced errors. The 2013 Family Circle Cup was her 2nd consecutive title in as many weeks, on two different surfaces. It was her 49th career title and her 3rd of the year (Brisbane, Miami and Charleston).

According to the WTA:

Only nine women have won 50 or more WTA titles, namely Martina Navratilova (167), Chris Evert (154), Steffi Graf (107), Margaret Court (92), Evonne Goolagong (68),Billie Jean King (67), Lindsay Davenport (55), Virginia Wade (55) and Monica Seles (53).

Serena will almost certainly exceed Lindsay Davenport's career title haul of 55 but I doubt she will get to Billie Jean King's gaudy total of 67. The most titles she has won in a year was in 2002, when she won 8, but last year she won 7 and this year to date she has already won 3 titles before her best part of the year has arrived (summer hard court and grass). This augurs well for Serena's 2013.

2012 Wimbledon: Serena Wins 14th Major; 5th Wimbledon

As I predicted, Serena Williams defeated #3 seed Agnieska Radwanska 6-1 5-7 6-2 in a surprisingly tense Wimbledon ladies singles final to win her 14th major championship and 5th Wimbledon title. Her sister Venus Wiliams also has 5 singles titles, so the two have won 10 of the last 13 Wimbledon titles between them, with 2004 (Maria Sharapova d. Serena), 2006 (Amelie Mauresmo d. Justine Henin) and 2011 (Petra Kvitova d. Sharapova) being the years the title was not claimed by Venus or Serena. Serena and Venus will play for their 5th Wimbledon doubles title later today.

During the match Serena hit 17 aces, bringing her tournament total to an astonishing 102 aces, more than both of the men's finalists Roger Federer (59) and Andy Murray (74). It is widely being discussed as the most important and dominant shot in tennis, both men's and women's. To emphasize the point, in the 3rd set at 1-2, Serena served a "perfect game," 4 consecutive aces, to hold serve. After that Serena's play returned to her high standard.

Radwanska impressed observers with her tenacity, coming back from a 2-4 deficit to claw back to even in the middle set, despite the fact Serena had points on her serve to a 5-3 lead. Her service percentage plummeted as the weather got windy and wet. Radwanska took advantage of her opportunities, breaking Serena twice in consecutive service games on a mere two break points. In the 3rd set Serena had multiple opportunities to break, finally doing so in the 5th and 7th games and served out the win pretty easily, using her big serve to force a backhand crosscourt winner on championship point.

With Serena's 14th major title, she moves closer to the 18 singles held by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova but is still behind Steffi Graf's 22 and Margaret Court's 24. She's moved 2 ahead of Billie Jean King.

What do you think, should this win move Serena higher up the official list of all-time tennis greats?

Federer Named Greatest Of All Time By TennisChannel

The Tennis Channel has been heavily promoting their countdown of the 100 Greatest (Tennis Players) Of All Time. The list of the 100 best players (men and women combined) as voted on by a panel of experts, former and current players was run through all this week and my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, was named #1, or the G.O.A.T.

The Top 10 are:

1. Roger Federer
2. Rod Laver
3. Steffi Graf
4. Martina Navratilova
5. Pete Sampras
6. Rafael Nadal
7. Bjorn Borg
8. Margaret Court
9. Chris Evert
10. Billie Jean King

Serena Williams ended up at #14 and Andre Agassi, the husband of the Greatest Female Player of all Time (Steffi Graf) was placed at #12. Between them was John McEnroe and Serena's sister Venus Williams was at #22, 4 places ahead of Justine Henin at 26.

The full list is available online.

AUS OPEN 2012: Serena Wins 500th Career Match

Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Serena Williams cruised through the first 45 minutes of her second round match against Barbara Zahlavova Strycova, but unfortunately for her, it lasted 68 minutes, with the American 5-time Australian Open champion eventually winning the last 5 points and the match 6-0 6-4.

Serena now has 500 career wins compared to 104 losses, while her sister Venus Williams has 598 match wins compared to 147 losses. Other players with more than 500 career wins are Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Amelie Mauresmo, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Justine Henin among others.

Celebrity Friday: Margaret Court Reveals Her Homophobia

Margaret Court is on top of the list of
all-time women's major singles tennis titleholders

Margaret Court is the legendary tennis player from Australia who won 24 women's major singles titles, more than any other player in history. Steffi Graf is the only modern player to come remotely close to breaking her record, with 22 major titles when she retired in 1999.

Court is widely considered tennis (and sports) royalty but the words that came out of her mouth were not very regal. Court gave her opinion about the ongoing national debate in her home country about whether Australia should end the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage.

And what she said was not pretty.

"They are not perfect, often dysfunctional and despite the fact the role models may be distorted and even severely flawed, there is no reason to put forward alternative, unhealthy, unnatural unions as some form of substitute. No amount of legislation or political point-scoring can ever take out of the human heart the knowledge that in the beginning God created them male and female and provided each with a unique sexual function to bring forth new life. To dismantle this sole definition of marriage and try to legitimise what God calls abominable sexual practices that include sodomy, reveals our ignorance as to the ills that come when society is forced to accept law that violates their very own God-given nature of what is right and what is wrong."

Mrs. Court is now apparently "Reverend Court" and obviously does not understand the difference between civil marriage (which is a creation of the secular state) and a religious wedding. Mrs. Court is free to believe whatever she wants about how her religion views homosexuality but she is not free to impose those values upon other people who do not share her religious beliefs in a democratic, secular country like Australia. 


Since two of the most venerated female tennis champions are openly lesbian you know that Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King would not let such comments go by without a response.


According to the Tennis Channel this is how they responded:

Said Navratilova: “Seems to me a lot of people have evolved as has the Bible, [for example regarding] slavery. Unfortunately, Margaret Court has not. Her myopic view is truly frightening as well as damaging to the thousands of children already living in same gender families...I have tried to talk to Margaret, but to say she’s completely close-minded on the issue is an understatement...Here is hoping Australia will be on the right side of history and human rights, and become yet another democracy granting equal rights to all her citizens.” 

Said King: "I respectfully disagree with Margaret’s position on gay marriage...We have to commit to eliminating homophobia because everyone is entitled to the same rights, opportunities and protection...The more we talk openly about issues like gay marriage, the more we learn about each other. It is a blessing the people of Australia can live freely and express their own opinions because we need open dialogue to help us move forward."

Good job by Martina and Billie Jean to let Mrs. Court know that her unbridled religious-based homophobia would not pass by unchecked. It's not often two of my favorite topics (tennis and LGBT equality) intersect but you know when they do I will blog about it!


Hat/tip to TowleRoad!

Serena Declared Greatest Of All Time By S.I.

Jon Wertheim stepped in it with a Sports Illustrated cover story declaring "She's the best ever" and annointing Serena Williams as the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) in Women's Tennis. Just last year, Roger Federer had been widely declared the GOAT in Men's Tennis after winning the French Open but has since fallen to a paltry #3 in the World rankings.

Wertheim's statement was controversial primarily because Serena is not even in the Top 5 of women with most Grand Slam singles titles.

He responds:

Wait—how can that be? Doesn't Williams still trail five players—Margaret Smith Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19), Chris Evert (18) and Martina Navratilova (18)—in major singles titles, the usual benchmark for excellence? Yes, but Williams plays in a far more competitive and demanding era. (Plus, none of the others had to play her sister in a Grand Slam final.) She has also won 12 major women's doubles titles, two major mixed doubles titles and two Olympic women's doubles gold medals. She has earned Grand Slam titles on all surfaces. She has been winning them since she was 17.

The Busted Racquet blog took on Wertheim's claim and came up with following list:

10. Justine Henin — Seven Grand Slams, 43 titles, 82% win percentage

9. Evonne Goolagong — Seven Grand Slams, 68 titles, 81% win

8. Venus Williams — Seven Grand Slams, 43 titles, 80.5% win

7. Monica Seles — Nine Grand Slams, 53 titles, 83% win

6. Billie Jean King — 12 Grand Slams, 84 titles, 82.2% win

5. Serena Williams — 13 Grand Slams, 37 titles, 80% win

4. Margaret Court — 24 Grand Slams, 92 titles, 91% win (unofficial)

3. Chris Evert — 18 Grand Slams, 157 titles, 90% win

2. Steffi Graf — 22 Grand Slams, 107 titles, 88.7% win

1. Martina Navratilova — 18 Grand Slams, 167 titles, 86.8% win

I must say that I agree with this list, especially the Top 5. For me, Martina Navratilova will always be the best player ever, and I'm happy to see her namesake, Martina Hingis denied the Top 10.

WIMBLEDON 2010: Serena Wins Lucky 13th

Serena Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-3 6-2 to win her 4th Wimbledon title, 13th major title and 2nd grand slam title of the year. In a high quality, but rarely competitive match, Serena out-served, out-hit and out-moved her Russian opponent, erasing memories of her shocking loss to Maria Sharapova here six years before. By claiming her 13th major title, Serena moved to #6 on the all-time women's singles titles list, with only the truly greats of the game ahead of her at 18 (Americans Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert). In the modern open era, Steffi Graf is at the top with 22 major singles titles from 1987-1999.

Serena is 28 years old and has won 5 of the last 8 major titles (2008 US Open, 2009 Australian Open, 2009 Wimbledon, 2010 Australian Open and 2010 Wimbledon). She has a very good chance of repeating that effort over the next two years to at least tie her countrywomen at 18.
Interestingly, she only had to face her sister Venus (who is already 30 years old) twice in a major in that time period and won once.

How many do you think Serena will end her career with?