{"id":2554,"date":"2021-03-02T23:56:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T07:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shescribe.com\/?p=2554"},"modified":"2021-03-05T00:07:38","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T08:07:38","slug":"friendly-fire-the-serena-williams-and-naomi-osaka-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/02\/friendly-fire-the-serena-williams-and-naomi-osaka-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendly Fire: The Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whenever Serena Williams<\/a> plays Naomi Osaka<\/a>, I\u2019m always rooting for Serena. I\u2019ve known of Serena longer, she\u2019s closer to my age, and I\u2019m all for the history she\u2019s trying to make. But I must admit, there is a salve to the pang that inevitably comes when Serena loses if that loss is off the racket of Naomi Osaka. \u00a0I can\u2019t help it \u2013 I\u2019m a fan of hers too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So undoubtedly that night, more like morning, at 12:30 am (PST), I was up watching the Australian Open Women\u2019s Semi-Final<\/a> featuring \u00a0these two. Not only did Naomi win, beating Serena for the third time out of their four meetings, she went on to win the whole thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of four, they were both going after \u201c4\u201d of sorts: Naomi quite literally 4, in terms the number of Grand Slam titles her eventual win would bring. <\/strong>As for Serena, well, go ahead put a 2 in front of that there numeral \u2013 24. That\u2019s right \u2013 amazing! That, of course, brings to mind another 4 \u2013 the number of letters in the acronym we\u2019ve come to know Serena by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G.O.A.T.<\/a> stepped on the professional tennis scene back in the 90s, before Naomi was even born, soon becoming a force to be reckoned with \u2013 only thing is, not many could.\u00a0 Her serve \u2013 ferocious, reaching speeds rivaling that of players on the men\u2019s tour. She infused power into a game known for its finesse, and ushered in a style of play that changed the way many of her peers had to approach the sport if they wanted to win, if they hoped to hang. \u00a0Indeed, she elevated the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you think about Black people and sports, basketball, football and track & field probably come to mind. You might even toss baseball and volleyball into the mix. But tennis? It\u2019s not typically tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tennis has this image of being a very White sport \u2013 and not just any White sport, but an elite White sport. It has an air of high society unassociated with that others sports say, like baseball or hockey. With that exclusivity comes an underlined insinuation of white superiority that gives way to white privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the word \u201cprivilege,\u201d in this respect, is warranted given the advantages that accompany whiteness in America and indeed the world, it\u2019s also an insidious burden of sorts for those who experience it. The arbitrary advantages that come along with whiteness, deceptively lead many of those who benefit from it to believe they are inherently better than others. And this idea of being better, which is so pervasively enforced and reinforced in society,  has become a taken-for-granted assumption generally accepted by all people \u2013 White or otherwise — inevitably shapes how Whites feel about themselves and form their personal identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then someone like Serena comes along \u2013 practically a polar opposite of the typical player, a black girl from Compton \u2013 and not only makes space for herself in a sport where there\u2019s only been a few like her, but transforms the game, that it plays a role in exposing the lie of white superiority not only in tennis, but in general.  And that\u2019s why a person like Serena is so hated, is so abhorred, is so intimidating, because she, in the pursuit and achievement of her dreams have exposed a longstanding rumor parading as truth for the lie that it really it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must be devastating to think you\u2019re one thing, only to begin to be confronted with the fact that you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they called her names, and she kept on winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They made fun of her looks, and she kept on winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria Sharapova became the highest paid female athlete over her, even as she kept on winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They scrutinized her fashion choices and she kept on winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They seemed to incongruently drug test her, and she kept on winning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She kept on wining, and winning and winning, until all the world could do was watch perhaps in contempt, for some disbelief, but undoubtedly\u2014admittedly or not \u2013 in awe.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those watching was another brown-skinned girl, born of a Japanese mother and Haitian father, who\u2019d sit up high in the stands at the US Open. With unfortunate bad seats, she had the privilege of seeing what the brown-skinned woman on the court, as a little girl, never got to \u2013 someone who looks like her winning\u2026routinely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with four Grand Slam titles and all the publicity she\u2019s received since 2018 US Open win, it still feels like I don\u2019t know much about Naomi Osaka. She\u2019s a bit of a mystery to me. And that\u2019s saying something because I pride myself on being able to observe someone and breakdown their personality, psychoanalyze them if you will. When I do this, of course, I think I\u2019m right, but there\u2019s always the possibility, maybe even probability, that I might be wrong. Yet with Naomi Osaka, I can\u2019t even come up with enough corroborating data to give my two-cents \u2013 the results, inconclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s the ostensible contrast between the fierce Naomi her opponents get during a match, and the shy one the rest of us gets when she\u2019s not at play. Though guarded, she\u2019s dropped some clues that they are one in the same. Take her 2018 post semi-final win interview where, in her sweet, almost little-girly voice she declared, \u201c…I really want to play Serena.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By then, she had already beaten Serena in the Miami Open. She\u2019d watched her, and studied her for years growing up. And even had Serena\u2019s former hitting partner as her coach.  Naomi Osaka was willing to take on the woman she admired \u2013 a woman whom, in many respects paved the way \u2013 with no fear. Twice she\u2019s stood int the way of Serena getting her 24th<\/sup> Grand Slam title, yet only viewed the matches as Serena standing in the way of her first and fourth titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as I hate the role that Naomi\u2019s played in thwarting Serena\u2019s quest for 24, that\u2019s also what I love about her.  When I was in my twenties there was this culture of paying your dues, wait your turn, eventually there will be time for you. I didn\u2019t like it then and even now, I think it\u2019s the wrong move. Yes, there can be a wisdom that comes with age and experience, but there can also be an uninhibited power that comes with youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At almost 40, with the years of wear and tear both physically and mentally, and tennis ingenues — unafraid to put her to the test — wanting to make their own history, one thing is clear, while I believe she can do, it\u2019s going to be a hard road to 24 and beyond for Serena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then again, it\u2019s going to be a hard road to 24 and beyond for Naomi Osaka too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever Serena Williams plays Naomi Osaka, I\u2019m always rooting for Serena. I\u2019ve known of Serena longer, she\u2019s closer to my age, and I\u2019m all for the history she\u2019s trying to make. But I must admit, there is a salve to…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[210,44,243,84,242,246,244,247,245],"class_list":{"0":"post-2554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-career-and-goals","7":"category-on-my-mind","8":"tag-achieving-dreams","9":"tag-goals","10":"tag-naomi-osaka","11":"tag-racism","12":"tag-serena-williams","13":"tag-sexism","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-tennis-rivalry","16":"tag-womens-tennis","17":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nFriendly Fire: The Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka Rivalry - Shirscribe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/02\/friendly-fire-the-serena-williams-and-naomi-osaka-rivalry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friendly Fire: The Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka Rivalry - Shirscribe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whenever Serena Williams plays Naomi Osaka, I\u2019m always rooting for Serena. 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