On a cool New York night, Serena Williams provided some heat, going down in flames with a volley of words, not shots. And you knew I wouldn't let this pass quietly. It may be a little later than my compatriots, but no less important.
Serena Williams is, as she said last night, "intense." As I have found out, though, she is only "intense" when she is losing or someone has a different opinion from hers. And it came out last night the biggest way. For the first time, most of the U.S. and world finally saw it first-hand.
The idealistic image of the Williams sisters cracked last night. So much that my colleges in the media who are enamored with her didn't know what to do or say. Mary Joe Fernandez looked like someone had just shot a family member. She spent most of the time referring to Serena being defaulted, but that is not what happened. Mary Joe should know, having played on the professional tour for many years. It seems Mary Joe forgot the rules. Or just didn't want to believe what she had just seen.
I'll congratulate Dick Enberg for saying that Serena's conduct is not that of a champion. I will correct him, though, for repeating several times that she was defaulted from the tournament. Serena wasn't. Tennis has always been looked at as the polite, civil sport. The actual rules of tennis are few compared to other sports, and tennis is guided more by a booklet called "The Code" than the actual rules. The codes are guides, not hard and fast rules. In tennis, you can give points to your opponent if you believe that a mistake was made. You say sorry if you toss the ball to serve and catch it before hitting it, and are supposed to acknowledge apologetically when a net cord shot falls in your favor. You warm your opponent up and you shake hands at the end of a match.
Over the years, actual rules of conduct have been instituted at the competitive level. Partially brought by the "intensity" that John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and Ilie Nastase brought to the game. Partially brought on by succeeding generations of players who have bought into the professional sports hero hype. Serena said again last night that her idol was John McEnroe. Even John tried to distance himself from that when he was doing commentary after the match. John need not worry, as there is a very long distance from "you cannot be serious" to "I'm going to f'n shove this ball down your f'n throat." Jimmy Connors was intense, but there is a continent that divides a once 39-year-old player making his last great stand, playing his heart out and screaming "get outta the chair, get outta here" and "I'm gonna shove this f'n ball down your f'n throat."
The Compton came out last night, in a huge way. Compton is a badge warn by and hailed by rappers, entertainers, and anyone who wants to claim they are streetwise. It has a special connotation because it notes a very aggressive, dangerous type of street life. Let's not forget that Serena hails from Compton.
So here is what actually happened. After losing the first set to a very, very focused, fit, and ready Kim Clijsters, Serena had a tirade, taking it out on her racquet in what was clearly now known in the rules as racquet abuse, and also known as a conduct penalty. The first violation was a warning, which Serena got. Kim Clijsters played controlled tennis, made fewer errors, and was way ahead of Serena in all the statistics of consistency. Serena played the only game she knows how, and it wasn't working. We've seen this before, and it usually leads to Serena losing in the end.
So the second set continues, pretty much Clijsters matching Serena shot for shot and looking like she isn't going to fall due to her nerves as she was prone to early in her career. Serena began to lose it mentally, and actually started to notice she was making errors. In other matches, she would make the same, but in those matches, she would dominate play so much that they didn't matter. At 4-5, Williams ran four straight points on her serve to tie the second set. Then Kim immediately turned around and did the same to Serena, and it clearly had an effect on Serena. Clijsters didn't run away, and wasn't intimidated by the forceful game. She did Serena one better.
Now comes the final game. Serena misses an easy backhand. Serves an ace. Then misses another easy backhand. Faults on her first serve, then gets called for a foot fault. Then she explodes. It was the first time she goes over to the lineswoman and states her now infamous line. Then she walks back to the baseline. Had she stopped there, the incident would have passed without much fanfare. Then she walked back to the lines woman and unloaded again. Out came the tournament referee. After a quick discussion, Serena walked across the court, shook Clijsters' hand, said congrats, and left the court. I've known Serena long enough to know that this was her way of trying to avoid having to say she actually lost on court.
Serena made it look like a default, like the tournament threw her out. Mary Joe thought so, as did many members of the media. Several minutes of commentary later, even after the explanation by the tournament referee that Serena had been given the normal point penalty for a second conduct offense, unfortunately at match point, they continued to let Serena make it look like a default and therefore shift blame. Shame on my media colleagues who still this morning let that seem like what happened.
Immediately after the match, the television cameras caught Venus and Serena in the stadium tunnels, at one point Serena smiling and laughing. In the press conference, Serena was gracious enough to give some credit to Kim, but it was classic Serena. First, she said that she had already "put the incident behind her" and what she shared with Venus after the match was between them. Fair enough, as there should always be some privacy allowed, but she would have said what it was if it was something that benefitted her.
Then she said Kim Clijsters played "incredible." My colleagues think this was a compliment. No, this is Williams language for no one can beat me if they just play regularly. In Serena's mind, she never loses nor can lose. If she loses a match, it is always because she made too many errors or she did something to lose, not that her opponent actually played better and beat her. In order to beat her, you must play incredible tennis. Kim played great, no doubt, and I really enjoyed watching her play a good match. It was not, however, the best match she has ever played, nor a match of incredible tennis.
The foot fault call was questionable. I couldn't find a replay or picture that was definitive, one way or the other. Call it a bad call, but the call alone was not the reason Serena was about to lose, nor enough to bring on a tirade like the one she had. Yes, a champion would have vented quickly, then stepped up to the line and served and ace or played an incredible point to erase the call. Serena knew in her heart that the match was over, that she had met her match that day, and instead let it all out on the line judge. Serena knew exactly what she said, and knew what the rules say about it. In her press conference, she said that she didn't think she would get a point penalty for it. Why? Because she is Serena, and no one dare do something like that to her in such an important match. You don't do that to Serena.
Well, they did. Serena is gone. Yes, the TV ratings will be lower because it's just Kim Clijsters versus heretofore unknown Caroline Wozniacki. And unless the unbelievable happens, Kim will win her second U.S. Open title. Wait, according to most of the commentary today, the unbelievable already did...
September 13, 2009
Ivan Evans:
This comment is outright racism.
“The Compton came out last night, in a huge way. Compton is a badge warn by and hailed by rappers, entertainers, and anyone who wants to claim they are streetwise. It has a special connotation because it notes a very aggressive, dangerous type of street life. Let’s not forget that Serena hails from Compton.”
Sports Central is required to dissociate itself from Tom Kosinski’s rabid rant.
September 13, 2009
Gina from Norwalk:
Serena’s Compton may be showing but so is your racism. To state that because someone is born in Compton that makes her streetwise, which I’m sure you are are using as a euphemism for “Ghetto” is plain wrong and shows your prejudices against people from Compton and all other urban neighborhoods across the world. Serena left Compton when she was a child and has grown up on tennis courts around the world. She is no more a child of Compton than you are qualified to discuss the merits of anyone’s pedigree. No excuses for her bad temper and poor sportsmanship. The ratings for the remainder of the US Open will suffer only because we don’t want to hear the racist comments from people like you.
September 13, 2009
Pat Brewster:
This article was obviously written by someone who has a bias. I know many people who feel the same way as he does about Serena. They also can’t stand Tiger Woods or Barak Obama. Go figure!
September 13, 2009
Damien Douglas:
This is the type of article that I find amazing because the writer does not have the guts to stand up for what he wrote and address all of these comments. So I ask you Mr. Kosinski, “Do you really believe that your words are not the words of a man that has a problem acknowledging that Serena Williams is the most DOMINANT TENNIS PLAYER IN WOMENS TENNIS SINCE MARTINA? or THAT THE WILLIAMS SISTER HAVE DONE MORE FOR WOMENS TENNIS THEN ANY PLAYER THIS DECADE? I begging you Mr. Kosinski respond to me or any of the people posting comments. We want to hear your voice so that we can be proven wrong about you being a racisit.
September 13, 2009
Kate:
Love Obama and Tiger. Still think Serena has no class, tact, or respect for the game or her opponents. The American media is obsessed with her because she’s a winner. Winning without class doesn’t mean much.
September 13, 2009
Adela Winters:
No. Tom Kosinski’s article is not racism. It’s the absolute truth. He told it exactly like it was, and telling the truth is not racism. What is racism is screaming racism every time a black athlete is singled out for behaving badly. Serena Williams is an athlete like every other athlete. She behaved badly and got what she deserved. That’s not racism.
Serena’s attitude and conduct were not only arrogant and vicious, but saturated with a sense of entitlement and, to be honest, criminal; her actions threatening, base and deplorable, not to mention cowardly, self-serving and ungracious. Her real self did come out last night. She behaved, not like a champion {or close to it}, but like a three year old in a raging temper tantrum because she didn’t get her way.
What the world saw last night was the real Serena Williams - arrogant, entitled, spoiled, ungracious, unrepentant and self-serving. If she has any courage at all, any grace, any humility, any trait of a true champion, she will offer her most humble apologies to the world of tennis, the U.S. Open, to the lines woman who was simply doing her job, to Kim Clijsters for stealing her moment in the spotlight, and to the world of sport in general for defacing and denigrating the standards we have all come to know as good, noble and true … and she will do it with absolute penitence.
September 13, 2009
Damien Douglas:
FYI, YOU MUST PLAY INCREDIBLE TENNIS TO BEAT HER SHE IS THE BEST IN THE GAME.
September 13, 2009
gordon cagnolatti:
wish we could see the whole match,keep your head up serena,you will return,work on the feet movements,the rest will follow.
September 13, 2009
Hank:
The whole premise of your article is wrong. Serena WAS defaulted. She did not concede the match. The foot fualt resulted in a double fault that put the score at match point for Clijsters. The referees came out and discussed the situation with Serena and the Linesperson and must have told Serena they were going to give her another code violation which being her 2nd of the match would result in a point being given to her opponent…and in this case Match point. If you replay the audio you can clearly here the female referee say to the Umpire “code violation” instructing the Umpire to call the match. Serena already knew this was going to be the result and had started over to congratulate Kim. I think she was shocked that they had enforced the rule, but she did not concede to “keep from losing”. She had already lost at that point.
September 13, 2009
Andrea:
THANK YOU for summing up Serena’s unprofessional actions. This is not about RACE. It’s about a female athlete who is not a graceful loser in any sense- cannot give anyone credit for playing better than her - and cannot acknowledge that there are players who CAN beat her. Thank you. Hopefully Kim Cliesters and M Oudin will keep up the great playing and classy behavior.
September 13, 2009
Tom Kosinski:
Mr. Douglas,
Thank you for reading my column. Anyone who has read my column consistently knows that I treat all athletes consistently, and that I have equally criticized all of the players when it was due.
I can appreciate your passion for Venus and Serena, as there are many who view their accomplishments as you do. However, it can be argued that Anna Kournikova actually did more for women’s tennis in the past decade and a half as the tour is now overloaded with Russian and Eastern European women who otherwise probably would still be sitting somewhere behind the former “Iron Curtain”.
The American Women have actually fell in numbers on the tour, and the recent rise of Melanie Oudin is the one bright light in an otherwise dimly lit tunnel that is US professional tennis.
As for the comments of racism, I need not address them here, as I have for many years having been the only tennis columnist who will call out the Williams sisters when they perform badly or show poor sportsmanship.
It would surprise most of those here who declare me a racist that my favorite player growing up was Arthur Ashe, an amazing player and true champion. I learned to hit my backhand from pictures of his, and also cheered loudly when he dismantled Jimmy Connors in the 1975 Wimbledon final. I would also remind those readers to search out my articles on the fight to preserve the Harlem Tennis Center.
Again Mr. Douglas, thank you for reading. You can rest assured that I don’t hide, that I do respond when you ask.
Tom Kosinski
September 13, 2009
Mike:
Damien said: Serena is the most, “DOMINANT TENNIS PLAYER IN WOMENS TENNIS SINCE MARTINA?”
What!!! Ever heard of Seffi Graf? Helloooo?
Seffi: 22 Majors, a Grand Slam and a Gold Medal
Serena: 11 majors
Martina: 18 Majors
Serena is not even is the same league.
and btw I’m an American whiteboy, voted for Barack and thinks Tiger Woods is amazing….and yet I cant stand the Williams sisters…no class, no grace.
And yes I agree with the author…I think Serena just excused herself from losing….LAME.
Any real tennis fan, who knows the game, knew she was gone after what she did (second conduct infraction, lost of point on match point…duh)….and so did she.
September 14, 2009
TennisFan:
Serena Williams behavior in the US Open Tennis match against Kim Clijsters was not only absolutely appalling but it was completely disgusting. If she’s not suspended because of her actions then the WTA Officials should resign or be fired!
In addition, it would not be surprising to see Serena’s sponsors withdrawing or cancelling their contracts during the coming weeks and rightfully so. The public has had enough and is fed up with over paid athletes that seem to think they are above reproach and held to a lesser degree of accountability than others. Professional Football and Baseball both can serve as an example of what should and should not be allowed to continue. The saddest part of all of this is that Serena Williams fails to be remorseful in the least and seems to lack the character and/or sense of values to realize the responsibility she has as a world champion and role model whether she likes it or not.
September 14, 2009
TennisFan:
To those few here that just don’t seem to get it and want to immediatley play the race card. Trying to justify appauling behavior is nearly as bad as the offense. The public is fed up with arrogant over paid atheletes behaving badly. Serena needs to be supended….period!
In fact the officials have a duty to the sport to either sanction or suspend athletes who display disgustingly unsportsmanlike conduct during a tournament.
September 14, 2009
blacksruleamerica:
Two words: white man
September 14, 2009
Ivan Evans:
Tom Kosinski’s sleight of hand in his reply to Mr. Douglas fails to dispel the essential charge of rank racism. The issue is not where Serena Williams ranks in the tennis ratings, whether the Williams sisters should be criticized or not, etc. It matters not a jot that you admired Arthur Ashe—it may well be that your best friends may even be African American. All this is a smokescreen. The issue, Mr. Kosinski, centres on your racist comments about Compton. Someone points out that the Williams family departed Compton a long time time and you, a sports journalist, surely know that the two girls were raised in a disciplined, caring, and religious family. You surely know that the Williams’ were not involved in gangs (which is alll that you appear to know about “Compton”) and have never championed violence or criminal activities. Your point is simple and easily recognizable: once from the jungle, always in the jungle. In essence, that was also the view of the Apartheid government in South Africa.
September 14, 2009
Rona:
Bad behavior is just that—Bad Behavior.
Serena behaved not just badly, demonstrating poor sportsmanship, she dropped the f-bomb and threatened another human being. I challenge anyone to find an incident where Tiger Woods ever took his golf club and shook it at someone while cursing and threatening to shove a golf ball down their throat (and yes I voted for Obama). When a person points out that another person (who happens to be african american) behaves inappropriately its not always “racism” perhaps its just BAD Behavior!
Serena’s behavior was disgusting and despicable. She has disgraced tennis, women’s sports and the african american population. She should have been removed from the US Open and not allowed to play in the doubles. She should be suspended and fined heavily.
The lineswoman might consider filing a police report, a restraining order and then sue her. That would be a very nice settlement and very deserved.
Shame on the US Open for letting her continue to play in the doubles.
September 14, 2009
Ivan Evans:
Rona and Mr Kosinski:
It is perfectly possible to simultaneously condemn Serena’s atrocious behaviour without qualification AND recognize the racism that pervades Kosinski’s comments about Compton. Surely you can grasp that?
Buut in case you cannot:
Serena William’s on-court behaviour was horrendous and inexcusable. A trivial fine is not enough in my opinion—she ought to be barred from playing professional tennis for a month or two, as happens in many other professional sports such as soccer and basketball. Her lame “apology” did not help her at all. It was ungracious and grating, indeed, it was no apology at all. Harsherthings could even be said about her corrosive impact as a “role model” on young tennis players, here and world-wide.
But all this is besides the point: the issue centers on Tom Kosinski’s comments about Compton and its inhabitants who, as he well knows, are predominantly African American. In fact, Kosinski’s specific comments about Compton and its residents are text-book examples of racial stereotyping and rank racism. As they stand in the article above, these comments finger Mr Kosinski as a racist.
The onus rests of Kosinski to apologize for his racial stereotyping and condemnation of Compton’s diverse community, the vast majority of whom reject criminality as much as Mr. Kosinski does. I have not heard any responsible journalist conclude that Bernie Madoff’s criminal activities reflects anything “ethnic” or “racial” about the formative influences on his childhood. Any such inference would—and should—be immediately condemned as racist. I am sure that Mr. Kosinski would agree.
If any journalist/commentator has indeed read “ethnic traits” into Madoff’s criminal acts, then that journalist should be glued to Mr Kosinski and both adduced as text-book examples of racial stereotyping and rank racism.
For as long as Mr. Kosinski does not apologize for his specific remarks about “Compton” (a community he knows very little about), he richly deserves the term “racist”, whether or not Arthur Ashe was one of his boyhood hero.
September 14, 2009
Tom Kosinski:
Normally I don’t post more then once, but since Mr. Evans seems to not understand my perspective, I will do so again.
First, Serena’s behavior wasn’t just bad. Probably the most foul mouthed, over the top ranting I have ever seen in my 30 years of tennis as a player, coach and journalist. I’ve seen quite a few in my time, but this one was totally uncalled for. And the way it was delivered was highly aggressive and really threatening. My reference was not to anything more then that.
Second, I have covered Serena quite extensively in her rise to stardom and since. I’ve seen the behind the scenes arrogance and sense of entitlement that surrounds her, her sister and her father especially. Serena has become more polished, but not any more humble or apologetic.
As an example, this statement from Serena arrived yesterday in my mailbox from the Williams PR firm:
“Last night everyone could truly see the passion I have for my job. Now that I have had time to gain my composure, I can see that while I don’t agree with the unfair line call, in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly. I would like to thank my fans and supporters for understanding that I am human and I look forward to continuing the journey, both professionally and personally, with you all as I move forward and grow from this experience.”
Note, no apology or anything remotely remorseful. She calls the line call “unfair”. Not sure how it was unfair. It was a linesperson doing their job. They saw something and called it. Whether you agree with it or not, it is in no way unfair. Fairness has nothing to do with it. And had the call been against her opponent, I’m pretty sure she would not have called it “unfair”. You have to have really different thinking to believe that a line call in a match was unfair, because the sense of fairness requires that there is a bias against one or the other. Geez, the woman was just a lineswoman who made a call. Its not like she was calling them all day long at every opportunity she had. You can say a call was bad. You can say it came at an inopportune time. You can say that it was just unfortunate that it came at that time. But “unfair?”
Hopefully that will give you a better insight into Serena and the way she carries herself and lives her life. Even you and other supporters here say she behaved badly. So if you can see it, why doesn’t she?
I hope that this will explain to you further my article and my commentary. I’m not dodging any reference or not answering any questions. I expected your comment about “the smokescreen” because that is what always happens when someone like me tries to demonstrate clearly that we have no bias. Its always a losing battle, but I do it anyway so that readers who may not know me know a little more about me.
I appreciate your reading my column, and all the comments. Like what I write or not, this dialogue can be very enlightening. I think several of the readers have posted interesting views, all worthy of reading and considering thoughtfully.
Have a great day,
Tom Kosinski
September 14, 2009
Narv:
What’s there to review more? Serena _should_ be suspended for what she did on the court, “Major Offense”. You can argue with the line judges or umpire all you want, but you do not make threats. I am a hard-core tennis fan and watched the whole game. I can almost make out the words she said to that woman and I’m still shaken up by that. You need to make a public apology, Serena.
September 14, 2009
Tom Kosinski:
Mr. Evans,
If you are offended by my words, then I apologize to you as my writing is not nor ever racially motivated.
To respond finally to your comments, Mr. Madoff’s ethnic background is not an issue. However, many people say he is a Wall Streeter. As you know Wall Street has become synonymous with the economic collapse and criminal greed and debauchery. So if someone were to mention that he worked on and lived near Wall Street, right now people would get a particular feeling and thought about him and his crimes. Not his race.
Same in my article. I don’t know if you are from or currently live in Compton or South Central LA. I do know that I spent many, many days and weeks during my 30 years of journalism travelling Rosencrans Ave,, Alameda Street, Wilmington Ave., Artesia Freeway, El Segundo Blvd and S. Central Ave while reporting on events from El Segundo to Rancho Dominiguez to Long Beach, LA, Lakewood, Carson and Huntington Park.
You can blame the media for some of the impressions the area has, but I do know both the best and worst the area has to offer. To this day the crime rate for the area, especially violent crime, averages 2-6 percent higher then the national average, depending on the category. To someone who is not completely familiar in the area it can be agressive and intimidating. So too was Serena’s conduct. That was my point.
Thank you again for taking the time to read my column and comment here. That is what makes Sports Central the best sports and commentary site on the internet.
Tom
September 14, 2009
Kozinksi:
Re: Kosinski’s comment
…To those who would declare me a racist, my favorite player is Arthur Ashe.
HAHAHAHA!
Hilarious! Is that the tennis version of the racist’s rallying cry “some of my best friends are black?”
HAHAHAHA
Just because you THINK that you don’t have cancer, don’t mean that you aren’t riddled with cancer. In the case of cancer, the medical tests reveal the truth. In this case, it’s your words, thoughts and deeds.
I have a white sheet with your name on it. Want to try it on…again?
You’re a disgrace to our people. (white)
September 14, 2009
WOndering:
Didn’t McEnroe do the same thing all the time?
Didn’t Tim Henman take out a ball kid?
Didn’t Andre Agassi scream “you’re a faggot” at a linesperson?
Didn’t Lleyton Hewitt racially disparage a linesperson?
Can anyone tell me if they were suspended for these actions and what there fines were if any?
Thanks.
September 14, 2009
Kozinksi::
Re: Kate’s “Love Obama and Tiger” preface.
Drooling racist white people are funny. Who do you think you are all fooling with that smokescreen. I’m ashamed to be white right now.
Keep ‘em coming….
And you wonder why everything thinks white are racists? Look at yourselves. You guys are pathetic embarassment. Are you from the South? Or Poland?
September 14, 2009
BRP:
Ashamed to be white? Get back to listening to M&M and wearing your shorts too low. Any time a person makes a comment referring to race in any way it’s rascism? Well only if you’re white I guess. More power to you Tom K. Keep telling it like it is… As for the ashamed white guy: Go kill yourself. And get a deep tan and don’t embarass us who still enjoy having less pigment melanin. Oh and I like the girl who won…this is tennis still right?
September 14, 2009
LTimms:
OHHH YES — the “Compton” comment was very racist… that comment was not necessary to prove the point of the article… Serena could have handled herself better… TRUE. But whether she was from Compton or Orange County has no relavance!!!!
September 15, 2009
Ivan Evans:
Mr. Kosinski:
Thanks for replying to my comments, although it is clear that you do not appreciate how hurtful and insensitive your “Compton” comments are. The Madoff analogy actually clarifies this point well.
Only in disreputable quarters is “Wall Street” a synonym for “Jews”; most people in fact know that whites WASPs dominate the corporate world in the US. Quite corrrectly, the vast bulk of Americans therefore do not use “Jew” interchangeably with Watt St criminal avarice. The errors of an one Jewish investor are therefore not traced to his ethnicity, but to the “culture of Wall St”.
What about your “Compton” comments? Your comments make it clear that you confound race and culture: Compton is black, Serena is black and blacks in Compton are all equally involved in “a very aggressive, dangerous type of street life”. Hence, whereas Bernie Madoff may NOT be reduced to an ethnic criminal, Serena Williams in fact EXEMPLIFIES racial criminality.
You also fail to address a salient point. Bernie Madoff embraced, remained in and revellled in “the culture of Wall St” and so it can be plausibly asserted that this culture played a major role in his criminal activities.
In contrast, the Willliams family exited that culture at an early stage partly because the parents wanted to remove their children from Compton’s various pathologies. Compton’s influence on Serena Williams was therefore disrupted, perhaps even decisively terminated. Unless you actually mean to say smg pernicious— for example, “like leopards, black people cannot change their spots”—you surely can see why the Madoff and Williams cases speak to different sensiibilities.
In Madoff’s case, we do not attribute ethnic motivations to his criminal behaviour Walll St.
However, instead of doing the same for Serena Williams, you continue to insist that her boorish behavior emanates from Compton’s “culture”. This is amazing and appalling. As a professional journalist, surely you know that Serena spent a mere 5 years of her life living in Compton (from age 5 to 9)?? She has resided in West Palm Beach since she was 9. What is it about Compton that so squelches Serena’s “West Palm Beach” values?? Admit it, Mr Kosinski—to your mind, it is race.
Then apologize.
BTW: Most of your last reply dealt with your desire to expose Serena’s “arrogance” and “sense of entitlement”. Granted—but these are irrelevant to your racist comments about “Compton” and the more serious suggestion that like leopards, blacks cannot change their spots.
Apologize, Mr. Kosinski.
September 15, 2009
Tom Kosinski:
Mr. Evans,
Let me first state that my columns, and opinions expressed in them are not that of Sports Central. Sports Central has graciously provided me the privilege of placing my column here for many years and for that I am truly appreciative.
Now, to address your concern, I will post this one last time.I cannot apologize to your satisfactions because I am not, nor have ever, considered myself a racist, nor do I judge anyone by the color of their skin or their nationality. So I cannot apologize for being something I am not.
I appreciate your dialogue, and unlike my other journalist contemporaries, I will have a dialogue with my readers as I have with you. I hope you can appreciate that.
I have been fielding these accusations for a decade, publicly, and have always found that there are people who will agree with my positions, who disagree with my positions, and who want to inject more into the stories and writing then is there. Do a web search and you will find many references to my writing, with varying opinions.
My observations and experiences with Serena, Venus and their father Richard have revealed a side of them to me that many people never see. My columns most certainly reflect that.
I have found that a tennis writer like myself can never please everyone, and when it comes to writing about Serena or Venus there is a contingent that immediately invokes racial issues when I write anything but glowing stories about them. I guess that will always be my cross to bear.
So with that, I must thank you one more time for reading my columns, for reading Sports Central, and for participating in the dialogue provided by the website.
The tennis season is winding down, and there are very few stories left to tell. Im off to chase one of them down now.
Sincerely,
Tom Kosinski
September 15, 2009
Ivan Evans:
Sure, hound the Williamses all you want … that is not my point, however. You fail utterly to defend your complete reduction of Serena to an African American community in which she resided for only a brief period of her life. Your unfortunate implication is that African American leopards cannot change their spots, not even after they move to and reside for the major part of their lives in a wealthy community such as West Palm Beach.
I, too, appreciate the civil tone of our exchanges. However, I must end off deeply disappointed that you cannot find it in you to graciously concede that your disenchantment with the Williamses carried over into an unnecessary tirade that smacks of racism.
September 16, 2009
Jonathan:
Is it just me - or is it obvious to everyone that Mr. Kosinski refuses to address what exactly he meant by his Compton comment and its thinly veiled racial undertone? Dance all you want Mr. Kosinski you are just as shitty as Serena when it comes to acknowledging your faults. WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU MEAN TO CONVEY WITH YOUR COMPTON COMMENTS MR. KOSINSKI - PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION OR QUIT RUMBLING ON ……
September 16, 2009
Mert Ertunga:
Jonathan,
He already answered it above. Have you been reading? Scroll up before you start filling up space with capital letters which equates YELLING..
I have heard baseball announcers in TV say million times “Don’t mess X player, he comes from a tough neighborhood in Philadelphia” and laugh on the air, or others say “If he wants to keep his jaw in place he should quit getting under Y player’s skin because Y is from Z place and he has seen plenty of that in the rough playgrounds”. There is no difference. I am assuming you always react to these as much zeal too. Right? Right…
September 17, 2009
Jonathan:
Mert:
Thanks for pointing out that perhaps all Kosinski wanted to convey was that Serena’s survival instinct is perpetually on high alert. That I get. Have you noticed though —— it is always the black player that gets called on for their perceived toughness - the subtext is what offends me and others here. “You know them black folks have a temper - closer to nature ,,,,,,blah blah blah ” (said with an English accent for the full Darwinian effect) - or as someone in another board finally let it all out “she is a gorilla”.: The message is in the subtext and despite how loud Kosinski and his supporters protest; Kosinski’s subtext is not lost on anyone with any intellectual honesty in this age of idiotic tribalism…
September 17, 2009
Mert Ertunga:
I appreciate the response.
Jonathan you sound like a well-read guy, pick up Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined Communities” unless you have already read it. I think while criticizing Tom of something, you are falling into the same critical approach of which you are accusing him.
Your approach would also make Roland Barthes raise hairs in his neck (see “Death of The Author), but make Mikhail Bakhtin proud of his dialogism.