I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Tag: billie jean king

  • All Aboard the Summer of Coco Express Unlimited!

    All Aboard the Summer of Coco Express Unlimited!


    Coco Gauff is now the youngest American to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999 and the fourth teenage American in the Open era to win the home Slam. And she did so on the anniversary of both Arthur Ashe’s breakthrough US Open victory in 1968 and Venus Williams‘ maiden title at the event in 2000. (D’Arcy Maine, ESPN.com)

    Gauff won her final on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the same court where she watched Venus and Serena Williams play ten years earlier in 2013 at the age of nine when her father took her to see her first US Open tennis tournament. The Williams sisters inspired a new generation of American tennis players for more than two decades – their legacy will be as powerful as their play was on the Ashe Stadium Court.

    Serena won her fifth US Open women’s singles championship in 2013

    Pretty and I watched Coco overcome losing the first set of the championship match to Aryna Sabalenka who will be the number 1 player in the world tomorrow when the rankings come out by winning the next two sets with power, placement, and perseverance. When I finally could breathe, I told Pretty I was thankful to have lived long enough to witness a new generation of American tennis players who have the potential to fulfill the legacy the Williams sisters created.

    Coco wins her first US Open title in 2023

    When Gauff was handed her $3 million check during the presentation, she turned to find tennis legend and social justice activist King standing a few feet away from her on the podium and said thank you Billie, for fighting for this.

    Congratulations to Coco Gauff not only for her incredible victory on the courts but also for her remarkable understanding of what this victory will mean off the courts as well. I believe the Summer of Coco Express in 2023 is unlimited.

  • Pressure is a Privilege – Billie Jean King

    Pressure is a Privilege – Billie Jean King


    “The celebration of a major milestone merits its own memorable imagery, and the 2023 US Open will feature both, thanks to the striking design of this year’s theme art. Designed by Camila Pinheiro, a 40-year-old illustrator and mother of two from São Paulo, Brazil, this year’s theme art is an eye-catching portrait of a 1973-era Billie Jean King in front of a bright and bold New York skyline, which will be featured in a variety of colorways. Pinheiro is the first woman to design the US Open’s theme art in a decade, and she says that the final product encapsulates both the perennial spirit of the US Open, and all that’s historic about this year’s edition, which will celebrate 50 years since King and her peers first earned the same prize money as their male counterparts at the event.”

    Victoria Chiesa – US Open Insider Newsletter, March, 2023

    On Monday, August 28, 2023 the opening night session of the US Open Tennis Tournament in New York City began with high drama on Arthur Ashe Stadium of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center as the #6 seed nineteen-year-old American player Coco Gauff faced qualifier thirty-five-year-old German player Laura Siegemund in a battle that lasted almost three hours. Holy moly. These women came to play not only with their blazing rackets but also with their feisty words to the chair umpire about Siegemund’s delay-of-game tactics which continued to get on the last nerve of Gauff’s coach Brad Gilbert who encouraged Coco to badger the umpire to call time violations whenever her opponent served. Luckily, Gauff prevailed in a seesaw third set, but the traditional handshake at the end of the match was as frosty as a Wendy’s chocolate frozen drink. Note to Coach Gilbert: try not to be a distraction to Team Coco as she moves on to round 2.

    A shocking upset during the day session of day one on the women’s side was the loss by #8 seed Maria Sakkari in straight sets to world #71 player Rebeka Masarova from Spain, a loss Sakkari seemed to blame in part for the odor of weed on Court 17. Wow. Come on, tennis fans. Try gummies – no odor – same high.

    Day One on the men’s side saw #4 seed Holger Rune sent home in the first round with another upset loss to unseeded Spanish player Roberto Carballes Baena on Court 5. No one mentioned weed odor, but Rune’s defeat did smell a little. He was allegedly upset by his assignment to an outer court instead of one of the stadium courts since he was a #4 seed in the tournament. Come on, Holger. Your 20-year-old immaturity is showing; focus on your game…wherever and whenever you play, or we will send Brad Gilbert to sit in your player’s box.

    Former First Lady Michelle Obama received the most electrifying ovation of Monday night on Ashe Stadium as she led the celebration honoring tennis icon Billie Jean King who was the ultimate pioneer for equal prize money 50 years ago. Come on, Michelle – please run for President.

    American singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles led the crowd in a “Brave” musical tribute to BJK.

    Innocence, your history of silence
    Won’t do you any good
    Did you think it would?
    Let your words be anything but empty
    Why don’t you tell them the truth?

    Say what you wanna say
    And let the words fall out
    Honestly I wanna see you be brave

    Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out

    Honestly I wanna see you be Brave

    Billie Jean King, the tennis world salutes you for being brave in 1973, and the rest of the world salutes you for your ongoing advocacy of women’s rights for the past 50 years. Come on, Billie Jean, keep speaking truth to power. You have taught us the powerful lesson that pressure is a privilege both on and off the courts.

  • Equal Pay Day 2023

    Equal Pay Day 2023


    AAUW Equal Pay Calendar

    2023 Equal Pay Days

    • Equal Pay Day—representing all women—is March 14. Women working full-time, year-round are paid 84 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. 
    • LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day is June 15. Without enough data to make calculations, this day raises awareness about the wage gap experienced by LGBTQIA+ folks. 
    • Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is July 27. Black women working full-time, year-round are paid 67 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 64 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. 
    • Moms’ Equal Pay Day is August 15. Moms working full-time, year-round are paid 74 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 62 cents for every dollar paid to dads. 
    • Latina’s Equal Pay Day is October 5. Latinas women working full-time, year-round
    • are paid 57 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 54 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. 
    • Native Women’s Equal Pay Day is November 30. Native women working full-time, year-round are paid 57 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 51 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men. 
    • Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Women’s Equal Pay Day is TBD. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women working full-time, year-round are paid 92 cents and all earners (including part-time and seasonal) are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to non-Hispanic white men.

    Thanks so much to the American Association of University Women for the above images and information they provided on this significant component of Women’s History Month in 2023.

    And thanks to Brazilian illustrator Camila Pinheiro for designing the 2023 US Open Tennis Tournament poster celebrating 50 years of equal prize money for men and women, featuring one of the leaders associated with that seismic achievement in 1973: Billie Jean King. A mere twenty-eight years later the Australian Open awarded equal prize money for men and women beginning in 2001, another six years passed before Wimbledon followed suit in February, 2007; Roland-Garros quickly followed Wimbledon in March, 2007 – thirty-four years after the US Open adopted the equal prize money policy for women and men in the sport all four Majors participated in the policy that became the first Grand Slam of pay equity for all players.

    “UnEqual” pay was the powder keg that ignited my activism in the women’s movement of the 1970s. From a nontraditional career for women in the accounting profession that began in 1967 with the shocking discovery that my compensation of $650 monthly at the Houston office of Arthur Andersen & Co., one of the most prestigious international accounting firms at the time, was $250 less than a work buddy making $900 a month for the same job. Only difference according to the partner in charge of personnel at the firm when I confronted him: my friend was a guy who might have a family to support one day. The risk for me, according to Mr. Terrell, was the need for maternity leave.

    I wasn’t bold enough at the time to tell him why that was an unlikely scenario; I was, however, angry enough to leave the firm. This was my first job in the real world following graduation from the University of Texas at Austin, my first personal introduction to discrimination by men in power who had no respect for women in the workplaces they controlled, my first feelings of being lesser than despite high academic achievements and even higher work ethics. At twenty-two years of age, I was born again – this time as an activist for equal pay.

    **********************

    Slava Ukraini. For the women.

  • Winding down…Under

    Winding down…Under


    “Sport is unpredictable. I kept remembering how many times I lost here like 2012 [5 hours, 53 minutes in five sets to Novak Djokovic] and 2017 [Roger Federer in five sets]. I was not ready for these battles, but today was the day I gave everything.” (Press conference in Melbourne following Rafael Nadal’s victory at the 2022 Australian Open)

    Down the first two sets in the best three of five against the second seed twenty-five-year-old Daniil Medvedev, the thirty-five-year-old Nadal who was seeded sixth in the tournament said following the match that his win in this year’s final at the Australian Open was the greatest comeback of his career. I say amen, Brother Tennis Man. For five hours and twenty-four minutes, you gave everything.

    Pretty asked me Saturday night if I planned to watch the men’s singles final beginning at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, and I replied no, I think I’ll just record it. Pretty looked surprised since I watched the women’s final at that mad hour Saturday morning and had watched Rafa’s previous six matches to get to the final. No one, including me, was surprised with Aussie Ash Barty’s win over American tennis player Danielle Collins in straight sets in the women’s singles final. I enjoyed the match, but I had no intense feelings about the outcome.

    The Nadal/Medvedev match was a horse of a different color. My love for Rafa has grown over the past twenty years along with the increased coverage of televised “live” tennis tournaments. I like his passion for playing each point regardless of the score, the work ethic he brings to preparation, the respect he has for his opponents, his own love of sport in general and tennis in particular. I even find his obsessive compulsive behavior entertaining. Whenever I had the opportunity to watch Nadal play on television, I took advantage of it. So when Pretty asked me if I was getting up to watch the final at 3:30 a.m., she thought I would say yes.

    Uncharacteristically I said no, I don’t think so. Too much was on the line in this match for Nadal. He was tied in the race for men’s Grand Slam singles tennis wins with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at 20 each. History was hanging in the balance in the AO final for him. He had only won the Australian title once in his twenty year career – in 2009 when he defeated Federer in five sets. That was one win in seventeen tries. Not a great track record down under. Plus I knew Rafa had been plagued for the past six months with surgery and rehab on his left foot that was always a problem for him so he had limited preparation for this tournament. In addition, Rafa had tested positive for Covid in December, been very sick for two days and wondered what effect the virus would have on his stamina. I believed it would take a miracle for him to win against Medvedev, and I honestly didn’t want to see it “live.” My nerves would be jangling, I thought. That’s why I said no when Pretty asked me if I was going to get up at 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

    But of course, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. wondering about the match. Curiosity got the best of me, and I staggered into the den to click on ESPN. As I feared, Nadal had lost the first set 2-6; but as the second set began, I saw something in the way he was competing that appeared more forceful than I had hoped. I was hooked, but he lost the second set in a tiebreak that was, oh so close.

    Mind over matter. The spirit must be willing for the flesh to suffer as Nadal often says his uncle Toni Nadal taught him from the age of three when he began learning to play tennis on the island of Mallorca in Spain. Uncle Toni’s training has been reinforeced by Carlos Moya who is Nadal’s team captain, the leader of a small group of friends on his team that supported Rafa as he transcended tennis history to become the first man to win twenty-one Grand Slam Titles in singles at the 2022 Australian Open. It was Nadal’s version of the Mallorca Miracle in the final three sets – a clinic in determination, persistence, and brilliant problem solving under immense pressure. Billie Jean King says pressure is a privilege and if she’s right, no one is more privileged than Rafa Nadal was in the last three sets of the AO final.

    2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 was the score when the last gong sounded for Medvedev who had competed like the champion he is in the long, grueling match that pitted the two men like sweaty prize fighters in a boxing ring instead of the Rod Laver Arena with a seating capacity of 14,000+ fans that were overwhelmingly supporting Nadal. The Aussies love their tennis – Nadal is a favorite – the crowd was pulling for Rafa. Poor Daniil who Rafa said afterwards “always has been nice to me.”

    “I’m so tired I can’t even celebrate,” Nadal said to the reporters at his press conference following his victory. He had to ease down in the chair provided for him to sit and answer questions about the match and his future.

    “I know no one expected me to win…but the support of the crowd helped me…I understand what 21 means, and I feel honored. Of course it means very much to me…my love for the game, my passion for it, my working spirit to play a beautiful sport that makes me happy. I know I have fewer chances to win so I stay more in the moment now than looking toward the future…”

    Rafael Nadal won the men’s singles final at the Australian Open.

    Alana Holmberg for The New York Times

    I was never a very good tennis player when I was a member of the tennis team in high school but I enjoyed playing for fun in college and the years beyond. My serve and volleying days are over, but my passion for the game lives on. Thank goodness for the magic of the fuzzy images of the small screens that became larger ones in high definition in my lifetime. I’m grateful to have lived in the golden age of the Big Three men plus a diverse collection of women legends over the past six decades that includes Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and the Williams Sisters (Serena and Venus – not Pretty and Darlene).

    I said farewell to the 2022 Australian Open this past weekend – Pretty is hopeful the clay court season starts soon and that The Tennis Channel will have better coverage for me than ESPN did for the summer down under.

    Rafa Nadal at the Australian Open in 2012

    *****************

    Stay safe, stay sane, get vaccinated, get boosted and please stay tuned.

  • us open: a time to remember, a time to look forward

    us open: a time to remember, a time to look forward


    On September 08, 2001 Venus Williams won the women’s singles championship of the US Open Tennis Tournament in New York City for the second straight year (and for the last time) by defeating her younger sister Serena. It was the first Grand Slam final between sisters in 117 years – the media hype surrounding the match was intense, but the match ended in 69 minutes with a 6-2, 6-4 older sister win. I remember watching the Williams Sisters in the final but can’t remember which one I rooted for, probably the elder Venus. At the time I couldn’t anticipate the incredible impact these two women would have on their sport for the next two decades – both on and off the court – but their names are now synonymous with tennis greatness around the world.

    I also could never have imagined what would happen a mere three days later in New York on a Tuesday morning, the 11th of September, when terrorists attacked our country including two planes that flew into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan – a short taxi ride away from the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, the site of the US Open tournament.

    The 2021 women’s singles championship of the US Open will be played on September 11th., the 20th. anniversary of that terrorist attack. It is the first time since 2003 that neither Venus nor Serena will participate in the tournament. Both sisters (Venus, age 41 – Serena, age 40) cite injuries that prevent them from appearing. I must admit I feel my age and a little sad that I won’t have a Williams sister to watch. But hey, two teenagers who stand on their shoulders give me hope for not only the game but also the future.

    Nineteen-year-old Leylah Fernandez is the daughter of an Ecuadorian father who is her coach, a mother from the Philippines who is her cheerleader in reserved seating during her matches. Leylah’s paternal grandparents are Peruvian. When asked about his immigration to Canada, her father Jorge said:

    “I don’t want to get political. That’s not what I’m doing. What I’m telling you is we’re an immigrant family, and we had nothing. So, Canada opened up its doors, and if they wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I have. And I wouldn’t have been able to give them to my daughter. So, it means a lot.” (Sanket Nair, Essentially Sports)

    The path to the women’s singles championship for Fernandez included wins over the #3 seed Naomi Osaka, #16 seed Angie Kerber, the #5 seed Elina Svitolina, and the #2 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-final under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium Thursday night. She will play again on Ashe for the final today at 4:00 p.m. Her opponent will be another teenager, this one from Great Britain.

    Emma Raducanu was born in Toronto, Canada to her parents Ian from Romania and Renee who is Chinese. When Emma was two years old, the family immigrated to England where she began playing tennis at the age of five. Raducanu’s appearance in the final of the US Open this year is the first of any qualifier in history (man or woman) to make a Grand Slam final, the first British woman to make a Slam final in 44 years, since Virginia Wade in 1977. (It was fun to see Virginia Wade watching from the stands at Ashe.)

    Raducanu won 3 qualifying matches prior to making the 2021 US Open main draw, and her run to the Grand Slam women single’s championship included wins over #11 seed Belinda Bincic who won the Gold Medal at the Tokyo Oympics this summer, #17 seed Maria Sakkari in the second semi-final match under the Thursday night lights at Ashe Stadium by crushing our home girl South Carolina native Shelby Rogers in the 4th round of the Open. Rogers defeated the #1 player in the world, Ash Barty, in a three-set unexpected victory in the third round of the slam.

    Fernandez celebrated her 19th birthday on September 06 at the Open with cupcakes that looked delicious – cupcakes she shared in the locker room with Raducanu and other players. She was born September 06, 2002, and Raducanu was born two months later on November 13th. Fernandez entered the US Open ranked 73rd in the WTA singles while Raducanu came in at 150th.

    Their ratings will change after their performances at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center this year. Their lives will also change: new demands, higher expectations, instant celebrity, countless decisions for their financial futures. Regardless of who wins today, both of these teenage girls have secured a place in tennis history with opportunities for a fantastic future – a future built in part by the sacrifices of their families, Althea Gibson, the Williams Sisters and their female tennis cohort, and by the remarkable Original 9 that was the first group inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this summer. Billie Jean King, Peaches Bartkowicz, Rosie Casals, Julie Heldman, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Judy Dalton and Kerry Melville Reid risked their careers by separating themselves from the tennis establishment to fight for equal rights with their male counterparts. When the winner deposits her check of $2.5 million, the same as the winner in the men’s championship, she can thank the Original 9.

    Today, September 11th, we remember the tragedy of a terrorist attack against our country twenty years ago. As the names of those lost are read and as the bells remind us of that unspeakable horror, two immigrant teenage girls, one from Canada and one from the United Kingdom, teenagers who weren’t yet born on that day will improbably battle for a championship in New York City.

    It’s the Women’s Singles Championship of the 2021 US Open Tennis Tournament – it’s more than a tennis match. It’s a glimpse of the future.

    **************

    Stay safe, stay sane, please get vaccinated and please stay tuned.