| 17 vs. 17 Martina Hingis and Venus Williams have a few things in common: both
have lived for 17 years, both play superb tennis, and before last month's French Open,
each had beaten the other twice this season. In the fourth round of this year's French,
Hingis beat Anna Smashnova, 6-1, 6-2, in 59 minutes, and Williams defeated Henrieta
Nagyova, 6-1, 6-3, in a little over an hour.
That's about it for similarities. |
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These two world-class athletes seem destined for a long
rivalry, which could take one of several tones: bitter and ugly, civil but cool, or warm
and elegant. Whatever the tone, their differences will intensify the rivalry, at least in
the eyes of the tennis industry. And the industry surely finds the contrasts between
Hingis and Williams delicious.
"On court, Williams's expression
is often grave, even sad. Occasionally, her eyes swim with tears." |
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We can start with intrinsic ones. The
6'2" – gangly and lanky are favorite adjectives – dark
Williams is a fine foil for the compact, fair Hingis: the angles of Venus's long legs and
arms and the dramatic planes of her face contrast with the almost soft-looking roundness
of Martina's face, arms, and thighs. Hingis's efficient power comes from the circles
of her haunches and upper arms; Williams moves on the extravagant springs formed by long
calves and thighs. |
Hingis, an only child, is coached by her mother, Melanie
Molitor, who watches her daughter's matches with quiet and palpable intensity. Williams,
on the other hand, is almost twinned by her tennis-playing sister, Serena; and Richard,
her coach and father, claims that watching his daughter from courtside makes him too
nervous. Yet he has made his voice heard from off-court, calling Irina Spirlea, who bumped
Venus in the process of a court change during last year's U.S. Open, a "big white
turkey," and declaring that his daughter would have been justified by retaliating a
la Mike Tyson, comments for which he later apologized.
Style and race
Then we can note the created differences. Hingis's short, dyed-black hair disciplined by a
wide head band contrasts sharply to the exuberant, mostly white beads that dangle and
bounce in Williams's face. Their costumes, too, contribute to the contrast. When they met,
amid hype and ballyhoo, in the quarterfinals of the French Open, Williams wore a
form-fitting, one-piece dress with an expanse of blue emphasizing her wide shoulders;
Hingis appeared in a loose, two-piece outfit with vertical stripes down the sides. She
played the whole match, which she won, with her shirttail out.
More subtly and seriously, this rivalry accentuates the different ways these women fit a
variety of stereotypes. Hingis, with her deceptively soft-looking body, her tripping steps
across the court, even her relatively ineffectual serve, fits the cultural stereotype of
the sweetly feminine, the delicate lady. But Williams, with her height, her strength, her
visible musculature violates this ideal of femininity.
The rivalry also highlights the racial difference between the two, although the media
hesitate to emphasize this difference. There is something admirable in our attempts to be
color-blind, but we can't ignore the fact that Venus Williams appears to us through the
prism of race. Our history of slavery, segregation, and, to this day, discrimination
against African Americans means that many will always perceive Venus as a "black
girl." For now, she's a charming, energetic 17-year-old, and we can root for her and
feel good about ourselves, as we did quite enthusiastically in last year's U.S. Open
final, when she faced Hingis.
But what will happen as she gets older? What if she starts speaking out angrily on the
subtle racism she sees every day? What if she becomes "too black" and
"uppity"? What does our culture make of African American women with power?
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