Serena Williams’ life as a Black woman in tennis

by Duncan George, Ashley Meltzer, & Mia Vernasco

Serena Williams, whom many regard as the best women’s tennis player ever, has had her fair share of encounters with sexism and racism. Both Serena and Beyoncé prove that even a person of their stature is subject to the constraints and prejudices put on African American women. Due to their shared experiences with oppression, their stories, along with other black women, share similar themes.

The Code Violation

In 2018, Serena Williams began to get upset by various calls during her match. The umpire gave her, “three code violations during the second set of [her] loss — for receiving coaching during a match, breaking her racket and calling Ramos [the umpire] a ‘thief’”. As a result of her three code violations, the umpire took a game away from Serena. In the post-game interview, she cited sexism for the unusual three code violations called on her that day. She stated, “for me to say thief, and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He’s never taken a game from a man because they said, thief”. Serena tried to make the comparison of male expectations versus females like herself in the sport of tennis.

Public Reaction

Due to her fight against the allegedly sexist calls in the highly competitive tennis match against Naomi Osaka, she began to receive racially motivated backlash. In a Washington Post article, the author, Newton, cites a cartoon defaming Serena’s looks and her character as racist. She began to talk about the history of negative depictions of black women in British culture. Historically, black women were always depicted as undesirable. This is similar to Lemonade when there is a narrator talking about how women are at the bottom of the social caste system and that there is nobody to look out for and care for them. This also brings light to the issue behind the stereotype of the “angry black woman”. Black women live in a society that polices every aspect of their self-expression. We have seen these sociological constraints flood pop culture, especially in the wake of the Serena Williams incident.

In the book, the Citizen, we see Claudia Rankine explain what Serena was facing and faces in this predominantly white sport. She states, on page 32, “her disappointments, exist within a system you understand not to try to understand the erasure of the self as systemic, as ordinary”. She goes on to note on page 33, how Serena still wins and performs at an amazing level and continues to hear the criticism of others like, “the American media {…}[saying] there was Serena… Crip-Walking all over the most lily-white place in the world… You couldn’t help but shake your head… What Serena did was akin to cracking a taste-less, X-rated joke inside a church… What she did was immature and classless”.

After winning four gold medals for the U.S, Williams’ character is still held in question. Rankine relays the frustration Serena exemplified because of her lack of control in the system. The people correcting, criticizing and manipulating the situation are those who control the system and allow it to move forward. Continuing along with the narrative in place is what keeps the frustration of racism and sexism going. She doesn’t have the ability to change the system herself so the only way to make herself heard is by calling out the umpire at that point.

Serena & Lemonade

The history associated with Serena Williams’ situation correlates to what Beyoncé creates in Lemonade. It also makes sense why Beyoncé would want to include her in the video album. She is portrayed as an unapologetic queen or goddess in the video as if to tell Ramos, the umpire, that there is nothing you or anyone else can do to take my soul, pride, and ambition in tennis away from me. Articles written such as one by Jason Rantz argue that Serena was playing the victim and revealed, “narcissistic tendencies while succumbing to a dangerous worldview that turns her into a victim.” This opinion article was referring to The New York Times running an article regarding Serena’s “$111 million venture fund, Serena Ventures. But editors made an error in the print edition: they used a photo of her sister Venus”. Serena stated in an interview “No matter how far we come, we get reminded that it’s not enough,” Williams tweeted. “This is why I raised $111M for @serenaventures. To support the founders who are overlooked by engrained systems woefully unaware of their biases. Because even I am overlooked”. When people like Rantz adamantly push against Serena, the environment becomes polarized and feeds into the stereotypes of black women whining and being dramatic. Beyoncé similarly relates to Serena when it came to her relationship with Jay-Z. However, because Beyoncé’s profession is art, she expressed her frustrations with Jay-Z, sexism, and racism in her album.

Specifically, in Beyoncé’s Lemonade, she features Serena specifically in the song, Sorry. Serena is dressed in more of a revealing outfit that allows her to show her femininity and be herself. Her spotlight in the media makes for many comments on her body that she reported in an interview with The Guardian, being, “too muscly and too masculine [or] {…} too racy and too sexy”. In the song, Serena loved being able to be unapologetically herself and was motivated by the lyrics. She was able to dance how she wanted to and do whatever she wanted to, which gave her the freedom to be more than what the system wanted from her. The system expects the best from Serena in her sport, no matter the exterior forces. Beyoncé gave Serena the opportunity to show how she can step out of that zone.

Serena and Beyoncé are both known to have revolutionized their fields. As women of color, they have both worked to end racial stereotypes using their popular platforms. Serena Williams’ heated dispute at the US Open caused an uproar ending in major backlash and large fines. This however did not keep Williams from speaking out on the issue. Williams continued to speak out on women’s rights, inspiring others to speak out as well. Tennis legend and equal rights activist, Billie Jean King, defended Williams, tweeting, “When a woman is emotional, she’s “hysterical” and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s “outspoken” & and there are no repercussions. Thank you, Serena Williams, for calling out this double standard.” Because of women like Beyoncé and Serena Williams, people who have faced these experiences are not afraid to speak out.