Serena Williams has written a passionate article for American magazine Wired in which she calls for more equality in the world.
Williams is regarded as one of the greatest black athletes of all time, achieving a series of milestones. In 2002 she was the first black player to reach No.1 in the world since Althea Gibson in 1958, first in the modern era. This year she was also the first black female athlete in history to be on the cover of Vogue magazine. Discussing the reason why she wanted to write for Wired magazine, the world No.1 surprisingly said that she was playing in a sport that wasn’t meant for a player of her race.
“That’s the reason I wanted to do this issue with WIRED—I’m a black woman, and I am in a sport that wasn’t really meant for black people”. She wrote
During parts of her career Williams endured racism with the most notable incident being at 2001 Indian Wells Open. She was scheduled to play her sister Venus in the semifinal, but she pulled out due to tendonitis. During her final against Kim Clijsters, Williams endured constant booing from the audience with accusations of match-fixing. The crowd cheered when she double faulted during the incident which she described as ‘a undercurrent of racism’. The experienced resulted in the world No.1 boycotting the tournament for 14 years, finally returning back to the competition this year.
2001 Incident
The world No.1 spoke about the Black Lives Matter campaign, a movement that campaigns against the mistreatment of black people by the police force in America. The country has been rock regarding a series of controversial cases leading to the deaths of black people under police custody, triggering riots across America. The 21-time Grand Slam champion has endorsed the movement.
“Keep it up. Don’t let those trolls stop you. We’ve been through so much for so many centuries, and we shall overcome this too”. Williams wrote.
Williams also spoke about gender equality in Africa. In 2008 and 2010 she opened two schools in Africa with the condition that 40% of the students are girls. She hopes to in the future one day open a score where the gender ratio is 50:50.
Williams will return back to the WTA Tour in January at the Hopman Cup. She hasn’t played a match since her semi-final defeat at the US Open after deciding to end her Season early to focus on her ‘health issues’.
