Women's Sports Blog

Advice For SI On Its Top Athletes of The Decade

• Rank May-Treanor and Walsh higher, since their dominance within their sport was unmatched. 
• Consider Prinz and Wambach co-top-players with Marta.  Germany has won two World Cups and the U.S. has won two Olympic golds over the past ten years, and these scorers have been the lynchpins of their teams' efforts.  They're not as flashy as the Brazilian, but they're often more effective. 
• I love Cathy Freeman and her run at Sydney was moving and world-historical, but what is she doing on this list?  If Sheryl Swoopes is pushed all the way down to 15th, seemingly because her accomplishments occurred mostly from 2000-2005, why include someone who had only two major race wins in 2000 and 2001?  Think about replacing Freeman with an African distance runner or an American sprinter.   There needs to be a sprinter here.  Which leads to the question...
• If voting writers didn't have to consider PEDs, why didn't Marion Jones make the list?  I don't think she deserved to, but take a stand and say either PEDs disqualify, or writers aren't allowed to have them influence the decision. 
• Tennis is over-represented in the top ten.  Does Henin really belong at number four? 
• The selection of Torres over another swimmer, like Coughlin, is going to look short-sighted in a few years.
• Otherwise, fine job.

Horses Are Athletes

Re: the tempest in a teapot involving the selection of Zenyatta to the athlete of the year list (the mare was second, and filly Rachel Alexandra was seventh), the double standard seems to be the most important hang-up to address.  If horses are considered worthy competition only in the case of female athletes, or if it it's clear that a human women did better and yet was being passed up for the slot that went to the horse, then this would be cause for outrage.  However horses have made the list for male athletes in the past, and these horses truly electrified the sports world in the way few other competitors, male or female, did this year.  Zenyatta competed, worked hard, and deserves the credit. 

Oddly enough, Serena Williams' selection was almost as controversial as that of the horses.  The end of her year was certainly ignominious, but look at all the 'athlete of the decade' nods Tiger Woods is receiving, and he hasn't even really dealt with his idiocy yet.  She paid the piper and had a fantastic season that should be acknowledged. 

From The Archives: Chris Evert

I just like this.  I have no idea why.  Leaving aside the dearth of women awarded the 'sportsman' honor, which I've talked about before, it seems ridiculous that Woods has won it twice but Manning and Federer have been left off the scoresheet.  Giving it to Jeter in a year when Federer won the career slam was a classy touch. 

 

The photo is the cover of Sports Illustrated's 1976 Sportswoman of the Year cover, and it depicts Chris Evert in a long, white, Victorian tennis dress and straw hat with red band, brandishing an old wooden racquet in a parlor-type setting complete with ferns. 

Serena's Fine Seems Fair

She made a record in earnings this year, so 82 grand is big enough to send a message but not big enough to inflict real harm.  Now let's drop it, please.  Especially the racially-tinged criticism. 

Graf Hates Tennis Too

The crystal meth revelations in Andre Agassi's book excerpt didn't bother me, although his lying about them did.  The most upsetting part was the message that's getting lost in all the drug furor.  Not only does he say several times that he hates tennis, it's clear that his wife, Steffi Graf, does also.  Both were forced to play by abusive fathers, and this shared pain was what helped bring them together.*  Both were among the greatest players of all time, and they spent their careers loathing what they were doing.  All parents who are interested in having their children play sports at a high level should read this book.  We laud the athletes who are products of 'tough' sports parents like Jorge Posada or Tiger Woods, but does the end really justify the means? 

*The fact that he calls her Stefanie, separating the person he knows from the tennis persona, is pretty telling. 

Serena Puts Serena First. As Always.

Here's a nice little follow-up to the Tulu story.  Apparently beating her sister for the year-ending Sony Ericsson title and regaining the world number one ranking were all too exhausting for Serena to consider playing for her country in the final of the Fed Cup next weekend.  She should at least have the courtesy to come up with an injury.*  She shouldn't have joined the Fed Cup team in the first place if this is how she treats its biggest set of matches.

*Now she's claiming "exhaustion."  She already has a lighter schedule than most other top players, and didn't have too much trouble in this tournament. I call shenanigans. 

Play Continues at the WTA Tour Championships

Serena, having finally unseated the most anti-climactic world number one ever in Safina, is sitting at 3-0 in the round robin portion of the tournament and has locked up a spot in the semis.  Today, Jankovic defeated Wozniacki, and Kuznetsova beat Demientieva, which means Venus secured a semifinal spot in their portion of the bracket.   Azarenka is currently up a break on alternate Radwanska and must win to advance.  If she loses, Wozniacki moves on.  Most of the matches have unfortunately been straight sets, but the Venus win over Kuznetsova sounds like a classic.  However, I would venture to guess that most casual fans don't know that tennis is still going on.  They probably presume that the U.S. Open is the end of the season, and it really should be since it's the last marquee event.  The sport is often described as "limping" its way off the stage, and that's not good for anyone. 

See Esther Vergeer Play Live

If you need an excuse to go to Amsterdam, the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Master Series is taking place there November 17th-22nd, and I suspect seeing the all-time great in her native country is quite a thrill.  Tickets may be purchased here. 

Tell Me Again How The Current Age Of Tennis Is Inferior?

29 straight minutes of baseline lobbing, that sounds fascinating.

Criticisms of Serena Turn Racist

That didn't take long.  Don't blow any sanity-watchers points reading fan reaction to the Serena situation.  Serious overreaction time is upon us, and The Big Scary Black Woman is at fault.  Her behavior was truly shocking, yet it's unlikely that the specter of, say, Jankovic doing the exact same thing would have struck people as universally "threatening."  Serena paid the price for her actions.  She was defaulted.  She paid the maximum fine.  She's now apologized twice.  Yet the calls are for her to be stripped of her total prize money for the tournament or suspended, usually charmingly augmented with terms like "thug" or "criminal."  As with any bigoted taunt, the words have to be in your head first in order to 'spontaneously' emerge.  People have clearly been waiting for years for Serena to show the true colors they'd expect from someone with her background.  Screwing up while black is still a one-strike affair in this country.