Analysis. History. Perspective.

Sports Then and Now



Looking at the U.S. Open From a Woman’s Point of View 5

Posted on September 09, 2009 by JA Allen

Serena Williams

Serena Williams

JA’s Commentary about Women’s Tennis

You want to hear the truth, don’t you?  You don’t want somebody to pull the wool over your eyes or lead you down the garden path? So, that is what I am going to do—tell you the honest-to-God, unvarnished truth.

The bottom line is that often being a woman sucks—which is perhaps the most precise word to use in this circumstance even with its unfavorable historical connotations. Frankly, it emphasizes the cold hard realities of being a woman in this day and age—in any day and age.

Women scramble to reach this detrimental rung on the ladder of life, finding that inevitably they must take one step more or laugh one decibel louder or be a smidge brighter because being number two means you must try harder and bounce back faster—if you wish to compete and be taken seriously.

A case in point—this week the women’s matches at the U.S. Open have been, for the most part, totally more engaging than the men’s matches.  The women have generated more excitement and more controversy.  Because of this, the world has tuned in to watch them.

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