Thank you, Martina

Though it is not uncommon for fans and the sports media to talk about how ridiculously hard the French crowd can be on players, that isn't the whole story. Today, on Tennis Channel, Martina Navratilova got it right: The French crowd can be tough, but French spectators save their real nastiness for women who become angry on the court. I agree with Navratilova that the crowd's viciousness toward Marina Hingis in 1999 was "disgraceful." And I agree that--consciously or not--the French are rigid about what kind of emotions women are permitted to have.