Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Great Britain, where the contempt for women's tennis never lets up

How many Brits can tell me who these men are?

Lukasz Kubot
Jerzy Janowicz
Fernando Verdasco
Tomas Berdych

David Ferrer?

Well, you know that they've heard of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. Juan Martin Del Potro--maybe.

Is The Times talking about what a drag the men's quarterfinals are going to be because of the no-name Poles, the whos-that Czech guy and the who-are-those Spanish fellows? No, it is not.

Instead, The Times chose to describe the women's quarterfinals as played by "the women you've never heard of." Excuse me, but two years ago, Petra Kvitova won Wimbledon. In 2007, Marion Bartoli had an amazing run and was the Wimbledon runner-up. Last year, Agnieszka Radwanska was the Wimbledon runner-up. In 2011, Li Na, one of the world's most famous athletes, won the French Open. Sloane Stephens is already a star of sorts.

Will it even matter to the British press which of the remaining four women wins the tournament?

Here's a clue, British Press: I happen to especially enjoy Laura Robson and I have a lot of regard for her, but The Princess is number 38 in the world and not a household name. Tough living on an island, isn't it?

3 comments:

svente said...

Given who is left in the draw it's particularly ridiculous to pretend no one has ever heard of them.

sunny nine said...

Too bad. I wrote a long post and it failed to be saved to this article. Hope you didn't miss the commentators comparing Radwanska favorably to Djokovic regarding movement-today during his quarters. A little step forward.

Diane said...

I don't really have a problem with the Brit commentators (well, except for the "girls" and "young ladies" thing); in fact, I like them. It's the British press that's so disgusting.