Front Burner - How Serena Williams changed the game

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

On Wednesday night, Serena Williams won her second round match against no. 2 ranked Anett Kontaveit, to advance in what could be the last pro tournament of her career. Earlier this month, Williams hinted that it might be time to say farewell to her illustrious tennis career. For two decades, the star has dominated the sport, winning 23 grand slam singles titles, 14 women's doubles and two mixed doubles slams. Cecil Harris, sports journalist and the author of 2020's Different Strokes: Serena, Venus and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution and the host of podcast All-American: Venus and Serena, explains why many say Williams is “the greatest of all time” in the tennis world.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson. One of the most dominant careers in the history of sports isn't over yet. Last night, tennis queen of Queens, Serena Williams, beat the number two ranked player at the U.S. Open, extending her time at a tournament that's been half farewell tour and half coronation.

Just listen to New York's Arthur Ashe Stadium when she walked out on Monday. The greatest of all time, Serena Williams. Any match might be Williams' last at this point. She signaled that this will likely be the final pro tournament of her more than 20-year career. Even if she doesn't like the word retirement. Yeah, I've been pretty vague about it, right? Yeah.

I'm going to stay vague because you never know. So today, we're going to go back and look at the life, career, and legacy of Serena Williams. We've got Cecil Harris here. He's a longtime sports journalist and author of several books, including 2020's Different Strokes, Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution. He also hosts the podcast All-American, Venus and Serena. podcast, All American, Venus and Serena. Hey, Cecil, thank you so much for making the time today. You're welcome, Jamie. It's good to be with you. It's a pleasure to have you, really. I'm so looking forward to this conversation. And I know, of course, you followed the Williams sisters's career so closely over many, many years.

And how did you react when you heard the news Serena is planning to step off the court? As sad as it is, Jamie, I expected it. I predicted that this would be the last year for Venus and Serena. Venus hasn't announced anything yet, but it's because of father time more than anything else. Serena will turn 41 on September 26th. Tennis is a young person's sport. And when you have an injury like Serena had at Wimbledon a year ago, it took her 12 months to recover from the torn hamstring. So once you get older, it's harder to come back from the injuries. And in Serena's case, she's already done everything. I know she would like to win a 24th Grand Slam title to tie Margaret Court's all-time record.

But tennis historians and journalists who really look deeper into that know that Serena's 23 all came in professional tennis. Many of Margaret Court's major titles came in amateur tennis. So if anything, there should be an asterisk next to Margaret Court's 24. Let's go back and talk about Serena's legacy here. And maybe we can start at the beginning. What do we know about her earliest days of getting into tennis? Well, in the early days, Serena was sort of following Venus around. Venus is 15 months older, and Venus turned pro as a 14-year-old in 1994. From all over the planet, they have come to get a look at Venus.

Her tennis talent was renowned to be otherworldly. Like the faraway planet whose name she bears, that too was a mystery until Monday night. I really wasn't sure how I was going to do, but I knew I was going to go out there and play the best I could and play as hard as I could. And it turned out really good. And that's really what got me so interested in tennis. I was just covering it as an assignment for newspapers. I was just covering it as an assignment for newspapers. But here was Venus, a 14-year-old Black girl in a predominantly white sport,

turning pro at 14 and her father telling everyone that she's going to be the best in the world. Every champion that lives has four main qualities, and she has all those qualities. And you can't teach them. You have to be born with them. You have to be rough. You have to be tough. You have to be strong. And mentally, you just have to be unbelievable sound. She has every quality to be a champion, and she will be. And that's what makes Venus. So that intrigued me enough to really start following women's tennis more closely. And then I found out Venus had a younger sister, Serena. And once I saw Serena, it became clear that she has a skill set that's even better in that her game is more technically sound.

And Serena, it's something like a pet bulldog. Once she gets a hold of you, she won't let go. Serena plays Angus better than any woman or any man I've ever seen play tennis. And she's so strong. And she hits the ball so well with a ground stroke. And her hands are just unreal. and she hits the ball so well with a ground stroke and her hands are just unreal. Serena would probably be a better player than Venus. That's not to compare my girls, but she will be. And in 2000, Richard Williams told me, Serena will be the better player

because she understands angles better and she's meaner. She's meaner. Meaner, that trademark intensity that we see from Serena, the fist pumps and the cries of come on and the shouts when she hits winning shots. Venus doesn't play that way. Most women before Serena did not play that way. Serena has the athletic ability and the fiery intensity that has really changed the game, I think, for the better. So the first time I laid eyes on Serena, you know, it didn't surprise me that she was the first of the two sisters to win a major title, the 1999 U.S. Open. Game, set set and championship.

And she beat a player, Martina Hingis, who had been sort of tormenting Venus in major tournaments. So that was a key indicator to me that Serena's going to have the better career. The 1999 US Open Women's Singles Trophy to Serena's going to have the better career. The 1999 U.S. Open Women's Singles Trophy to Serena Williams. Give me a sense of just how extraordinary her record is. Of course, you already talked about the 23 Grand Slams, but maybe just rattle off a bit of this record for me.

Well, Serena has won six U.S. Open titles, tying Chris Everett for the most ever. There's a potential moment for Serena to claim her sixth U.S. Open and her 18th Grand Slam. She not only has the 23 major titles, but she has two Serena slams. I have to make that distinction. A grand slam in tennis occurs when a player wins all four major titles in the same calendar year. Serena hasn't done that, but twice in her career, she has held all four major titles at the same time. And she dubbed that the Serena Slam. And what really puts Serena in the conversation with the GOATs, the greatest of all time across all of sport, is that her first Serena Slam occurred in 2002 and 2003, her second in 2014

and 2015. So that's more than a decade apart. That's greatness that stands the test of time. That's why I think it's such a valid comparison to put Serena in with Muhammad Ali or Wayne Gretzky, Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, because it's greatness that in the face of some real challenges, hey? Racism. Yes. Absolutely. From thinly veiled comments, from competitors questioning her place in the game, to really like outright racist taunts hurled her way from the stand.

He said some evil things. It was crazy. I couldn't believe what came out of his mouth. And as an African-American, I'm not going to stand for it. There are a lot of examples I know that you look into in your podcast. But maybe take us back to Indian Wells in 2001. What happened then? That was an ugly tournament, Jamie. Venus had beaten a Russian player named Elena Dementieva, and the winner of that match, Venus, was scheduled to play Serena in the next round. So the reporters naturally asked Dementieva, who do you think will win in the semifinal between Venus and Serena? Dementieva, who had no evidence whatsoever, said, oh, Richard Williams, the father, will decide. It will be a family decision. Well, that's accusing

the Williams family of match fixing. That's one of the most vile things you can accuse a professional athlete of doing, and she had no evidence. So when Venus was scheduled to play Serena, Venus had a slight injury to her knee. She tweaked her knee and said, I don't feel like I can play. Now, because of what Dementia had said and Venus pulling out with what she said was a knee injury, the tennis crowd in the media just assumed, oh, Venus is pulling out so Serena can win to help Serena's ranking. Again, no evidence to support that. But that's an ugly rumor that people took and ran with.

So Serena made it to the final of Indian Wells by walkover. She played Kim Kleister of Belgium. And when Serena took the court, she was booed. Welcome to viewers from British Eurosport. It's an amazing sound here. A crescendo of boos for Serena Williams. Now, an American crowd in Indian Wells, California, booing an American player against a Belgian. And when Venus and Richard Williams took their courtside seats, the booing was even louder. There's Venus and the crowd, an American crowd, booing an even louder. There's Venus. And the crowd, an American crowd,

booing an American family. And you have to say that it does smack of a little bit of racism. And the family has said they heard the N-word hurled at them. Someone challenged Richard Williams to a fight. That's how ugly the scene was. And Serena had to play in this atmosphere. And again, Serena at the time was only 19 years old. She won the match and was booed

during the trophy presentation. And Serena took the microphone and said, to those of you who booed me, I love you anyway. And they booed her even louder. It was a little tough because I won here before and the reception wasn't so good. But, you know, if you're a champion, you should be able to get through it. Well, you showed you were a champion. And because of the pain that the family experienced, Serena has admitted many years later that leaving the tennis center, she was in the car crying. But she didn't let them see that. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that they had gotten to her.

that. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that they had gotten to her. But it hurt Serena so much that she did not go back to Indian Wells for another 14 years. I just remember getting in the car and I was just bawling. I was at the gas station. There was no celebration. And I was just like crying and crying and crying. Even when I went back 14 years later, it was very traumatizing. It was like really post talk about post-traumatic stress and mental anxiety. How else do you think that Serena and her sister and her family have faced racism? Well, I think the match fixing rumors where there is no credible evidence whatsoever is a manifestation of people trying to turn the public against these two Black girls. Richard Williams had this crazy tennis dream of taking his two daughters and

making them the two best players in the world. It did happen. But when it happened around the turn of the century, tennis fans, the tennis community in general, were not ready for it. And I really think people were looking for a reason not to like these sisters. for it. And I really think people were looking for a reason not to like these sisters. And in Serena's case, she is a fiery, intense player who pumps her fists and yells, come on after winning shots. And that sort of goes against the stereotypical image of how a female player should react to hitting a winning shot. Serena is expressive. She is her authentic self. And Serena has also said, by the way, Jamie, I'm the most drug tested athlete in tennis. It's as if they're trying to find something on her. She has never failed a drug test.

I've never tested positive. I've always gotten a TV. So you should fact check that. In fact, no. always got new TV, so you should fact check that. In fact, no. Two of her chief competitors over the years, Maria Sharapova and Martina Hengist, both were suspended from the sport for failing drug tests. Serena has never failed a drug test, yet she is constantly being chosen to take random drug tests. So that's one of the ways in which I think many people in the tennis community weren't willing to accept them. And until only recently, until really 2015, the tennis community has not embraced Serena or Venus. I'm going to go. Optimization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you.

Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo. 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. I want to talk about another incident that happened after she gave birth in 2017. She returned to the court to play in the French Open in 2018. So very quickly after giving birth, and she wore this

specially made bodysuit, and it was made for medical reasons to help with blood clotting and circulation issues. And tournament organizers took issue with it. And tell me about that incident and what you made of it. It was very odd because Serena would have had to get the approval of the French Tennis Federation to wear the bodysuit. Somebody obviously said it was okay because she was wearing it, but the president of the French Federation at the time took issue with it and said, players need to respect the sport more. Now, I don't know how a black bodysuit Players need to respect the sport more. Now, I don't know how a black bodysuit is showing disrespect to tennis.

And you're right. Serena had a medical reason for wearing it. She has a history of blood clots and the tightness of the bodysuit helped her circulation. Will you wear the outfit at the U.S. Open? Could you explain the circulation? Yeah, yeah. I've since found other methods. And when it comes to fashion, you don't want to be a repeat offender. So it'll be a while before this even has to come up again. So what are the other solutions?

To this day, the president of the French Federation, who is no longer in that position, has not explained to the media exactly why he banned the cat suit. But they did. And the Women's Tennis Association came out right afterwards with a statement saying cat suits are OK, body suits are OK. We have no problem with it. The other major tournaments have no problem with it. But it's still stunning that Serena was singled out in that way. It's very strange. Yeah, I remember that at the time. Also, like it looked so cool. The bodysuit was, it's awesome. It did. I also think it's worth mentioning here as we're talking about sort of the reason why she was wearing that is that after

she gave birth to her daughter, she was so open about her very difficult pregnancy and very difficult birth. Yes. Which was a life-threatening ordeal for her. After feeling short of breath, a CT scan revealed that Williams had a pulmonary embolism and other blood clots, which set off coughing fits that burst her C-section incision. She then had to have additional surgery tofeeding and also battling postpartum depression. And what impact do you think, do you think that had this icon of sport sharing her experience like that? I think that's why Serena has so many female fans in particular who strongly identify with her. I'm a male tennis fan and journalist who strongly identifies with her because she shared that information. And it is a fact that in the United States, the Black

maternal mortality rate is two to three times higher than the white maternal mortality rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control. So I'm not just picking these numbers out of the air. This has been studied. And Serena had the same problem that many women have had when dealing with a medical staff, not being believed. Serena was asking for specific things during her treatment, and she was denied them. She did have an extremely complicated birth. She could have died. I think that has drawn her even closer to her fan base. I think it has won her a lot of fans who don't necessarily watch tennis, but they know who Serena is and they've either experienced what she has or they

appreciate that she has been so honest about what she has had to deal with. You're talking about the impact that she's had on important conversations, on her fans. She's also had an enormous impact on the players that have come up under her, hey? Yes, no question about it. The two women who defeated Serena in US Open finals after she came back, Naomi Osaka of Japan. Like, she changed the sport so much. She's introduced people that have never heard of tennis into the sport. And I think I'm a product of what she's done.

And Bianca Andreescu of Canada. She's not afraid to be herself and to show all her emotions on the court, off the court. It's incredible. I hope that I can achieve maybe half of what she achieved and continue on her legacy some way. Both idolize Serena. There are many players on the tour, past and present, who idolize Serena. They took up the sport because of her. They try to pattern their style of play after her.

And not only that, I'm here in New York where the US Open is being played. that, I'm here in New York where the U.S. Open is being played. I see more Black fans, more fans of color, let's say, than ever before coming to the U.S. Open. And Serena, and to a lesser degree, her sister Venus, have brought that about. They've made tennis fans out of people who didn't necessarily have tennis on their radar before. We think that she is not only the greatest of all times, we think she's unmatchable. She paid her dues and she's left a legacy for others to follow. But she has meant so much to us, so much to tennis, so much to young Black girls. Greatest of all time! You've followed her career for so long. What has it meant to you? I've enjoyed sort of being along for the ride as a journalist because essentially Serena hasn't changed.

She's been consistent. It's the tennis fans who have changed toward her. And I take particular pride as a Black American in seeing Serena and her sister Venus changing the game, making it more appealing. The U.S. Open women's final became a primetime event in 2001 for the first time because of the Williams sisters. I mentioned earlier, I covered male team sports and covered tennis just as an assignment, but I had an emotional attachment to the Williams sisters because I love the way they played and especially Serena because she brings a special intensity to the court. What do you think is next for her? That's an interesting question. Serena has said that she wants to have another child.

Now, when we talk about, say, Tom Brady, the quarterback who's still playing at 45, while his wife has to go through the physical labor, Serena will have to do the physical labor of giving birth. And the first time she left the tour, she came back 14 months later, and it was really another two to three months after that before she had her groove back. So it's basically a year and a half to two years. that before she had her groove back. So it's basically a year and a half to two years. If she were to do that, leaving the tour at 41, she'd be 42 and a half when she came back. And it's a young person's sport. It's not realistic to think that she'll play again, but I think she'll have more of an impact off the court. She has built schools for children in Jamaica, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe. I know she wants to do more of that.

She wants to try to level the playing field when it comes to how girls are educated in so many countries versus how boys are educated. She's also a venture capitalist. calls Serena Ventures, where she provides startup money to small business owners, largely women and men of color, because routinely they have their applications rejected by banks and other lending institutions. And Serena has really made a lot of headway with her company, Serena Ventures. And I expect her to be a bit more outspoken on some social issues as well. Once she's away from, let's say, the pressures of being a professional athlete, having a ranking to maintain or having that target on her back as world number one. I wouldn't be surprised if she also does more producing. She and Venus were executive producers of the Academy Award winning film King Richard about their father.

This next step you've got to take, you're not going to just be representing you. You will be representing every little black girl on Earth. I'm not going to let you down. How could you? And Serena told me many years ago that she wanted to act in a movie to play Althea Gibson, a woman who was the first Black major tennis champion in the 1950s. Well, Serena may not want to act anymore, but she could produce a film that gives Althea Gibson her due. That's such an interesting story. I really hope they make that movie. I would love to see it. Although I just, I do want to bring out that recently she was on a panel with her sister and

some other players, including Naomi Osaka. She was asked whether the US Open would truly be her final moment. And she kind of gave a bit of a vague answer. She was like, I don't think so, but you never know. I've learned in my career, never say never. And so do you think it is possible that we might see her compete again? You know, it is possible. If Serena likes the way she played in the US Open, regardless of the result, she might decide to stick around for the Australian Open, which is the next major in January. That wouldn't shock me because she's a competitive athlete and she may feel, well, I can win one more major.

Nobody can beat me. Okay, so we still might see her play. It's possible. Cecil, thank you so much for this. It was such a pleasure talking to you. Just before we go, maybe your favorite Serena Williams moment. one game from the championship. But I saw Serena kick it up to a level that I had never seen a player before.

She simply refused to lose. She won the next four games to win that set 7-5 and win the championship. And it's Serena time again. And it was a pleasure to just see her elevate her game to a level that Azarenka could not match. Just so many winners, so many aces, great returns. She took it to the next level,

and that's my favorite Serena moment. And it happened in the U.S. Open final, and the crowd was going insane at Arthur Ashe Stadium just to see how Serena rose to the occasion. Cecil, this has been so great. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome, Jamie.

All right. That's all for today. Thanks so much for listening to FrontBurner, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.