Granderson: The mind of Serena Williams
LA TimesDuring coverage of the 2005 French Open, tennis commentator Mary Carillo famously shared an essay in which she pointed out the similarities between winning on clay and winning at life. It was another example of the sports world’s nasty habit of characterizing Black athletes as “naturally gifted” as opposed to hard-working or gym rats, like their white counterparts. After the Williams family alleged racial slurs were directed at them in 2001 at a tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., a white player, Martina Hingis, commented, “I definitely don’t feel there is racism on the tour.” A few months later at the U.S. Open, another white player, Lleyton Hewitt, accused a Black linesman of giving favorable calls to James Blake, who is Black. When that kleptomaniac Father Time came to steal some of her speed, it was Serena’s guile that kept her winning, much in the same way it keeps Tom Brady dominating past his physical prime. If Carillo is right in her essay, and “a fatigued mind makes bad decisions,” the mental stamina Serena has shown needs to be as celebrated as her booming serve.