By: Cathy Green
If Venus and Serena were white women, they would be treated like mini-gods. Their endorsements would be plentiful and they would be practically billionaires. 
Don’t get me wrong. They do have endorsements and are quite wealthy. But they just don’t get the type of press that they would if they had blonde hair and blue eyes.
After nearly two hours of brutal powerhouse tennis on Centre Court on Saturday Serena Williams punched a backhand into the tramlines and older sister Venus had her fifth Wimbledon title in the bag.
The celebrations of 28-year-old Venus were muted. There was no jig of joy or girly giggles that had accompanied her victory here last year against French outsider Marion Bartoli but the contented smile said it all.
After losing to 26-year-old Serena in their last five meetings in grand slam finals, including the disappointing 2002 and 2003 showdowns at Wimbledon, her 7-5 6-4 victory meant big sister had finally put little sister back in her place.
A brief embrace at the net was as emotional as it got before Venus set off to parade the Venus Rosewater Dish around a sunlit arena. The sisterly words of comfort would have been saved for the privacy of the locker room.
Serena at least had something to smile about later when she partnered Venus to the women’s doubles title for the third time.
After the awkwardness of a few hours earlier, it was all high fives and smiles when they beat Samantha Stosur and Lisa Raymond 6-2 6-2, meaning Venus swept through the entire fortnight without dropping a set.
“My first job is big sister, I take that very seriously,” Venus said on Centre Court following the singles watched by her mother and other sister but not father Richard who flew back to Florida after the semi-finals.
“I was pretty excited about that win because it was so close,” Venus later told reporters.
This is the blonde Maria Sharapova 
If she were the one winning Wimbleton over and over again, you’d never hear the last of it. In fact, she has FAR more endorsements than does the Williams sisters put together. I have to wonder if things will ever change.
Loading ...
American Idol
Tiger Woods
Cathy, you are on the mark with this article!! These talented ladies do not get the due respect that they deserve! Sharapova, who happens to be far less talented, is constantly being given tennis’ version of the Michael Jordan treatment in terms of endorsements and media coverage. The Williams sisters are instead ridiculed in the media. Their looks are constantly under attack and their talent is constantly underscored. I agree that if the Williams sisters looked like Maria Sharapova, the would be the toast of tennis and the stuff of legend. It is situations like this that emphasize the need for African American media outlets. I am starting to wonder if I will ever see true equality in my lifetime.
By the way, who is Cathy Green???
Hi,
I’d like to weigh in if I can….
First off I’d like to congratulate BOTH young ladies….reaching a final is nearly impossible and to do these things time and time again over a period of years (12?) is truly remarkable…..
People inside the sport of tennis have never ridiculed these two ladies as far as their talent or the color of their skin….anyone who knows ANYTHING about tennis would be a fool to compare the Williams’ to Maria Sharapova just as ANYONE who would compare Venus or Serena with Steffi Graff would be considered foolish as well.
The problem here is committment and if you look at how much the Williams sisters have played competitively compared to Sharapova during the last few years you will see a vast difference. Sponsers want women on TV and playing as often as possible and there are times when Venus and Serena have either pulled out of tournaments or have taken extended “breaks” away from the game…for whatever reason and sponsors don’t like this type of thing…..its all about exposure and has very little to do with talent or skin color my friends….
As far as endorsements go this really has nothing to do with tennis but with who will bring in the most bucks. Serena and Venus have HUGE endorsements that are quite similar to Sharapova’s…in fact Serena has a Nike deal that is far superior to ANY female tennis player on the planet.In fact the Williams’ make far more money then 99% of the female tennis players on tour which the writer of this article seems to have neglected….
Tennis is an expensive sport….it takes HUGE money to get a kid on the tour whether they are black white or whatever….and the real truth is that many people both black and white don’t have the funds required to underwrite such an endeavor….
How many of you have 500,000 dollars to invest in your child for anything let alone a crapshoot like tennis? The real fact is that for every Williams or Blake there are probably a million more kids white or black that never even get a whiff of the money those three have made and probably are just as talented….
Is there racism in tennis? Sadly there is but things are changing…slowly. Both white and black face this. One of my junior players who has dual nationality wasn’t asked to play doubles by anyone in a tournament in Holland because he was “Greek”…they didn’t realize his mother is Dutch nor did they realize he was the best player in the tournament…and they hopefully learned a valuable lesson…the same as the Williams’ competitors learned all those years ago…..
One last thing. Venus and Serena have won more majors then Maria Sharapova will ever win and THAT is what means the most to those of us in the tennis world and they have earned a tremendous amount of respect from those of us who really know the deal….
Thank you for your insight Mr. Naessens. I’ll just kick my ole soap box over into the corner and call this one a wrap.
I do have just one question stemming from your commentary. How did the Williams sisters financially get into the sport?? Based on the initial investment numbers you quoted (and I realize that $500,000 is probably an estimate), where could their father have possibly gotten the money for their launch??
I forgot to mention that Venus is absolutely beautiful in that first picture. They have evolved in all aspects of their lives.
By the way, who is Cathy Green???
I’m Cathy Lynn Green! But I use my middle name
Phil,
Outstanding insight as usual. I still believe that there are definite differences in the way the blonde and the blacks are treated but you are the tennis expert here so I will take your word on this.
Lynn, I am rolling on the floor! Sorry, I didn’t realize that Cathy was one of your monikers. I thought that you had added another writer. Thanks for the clarification.
LOL! I won’t confuse ya’ll any more. I’ll stick with Lynn. Oh, and on other websites I use “LennieG”, so if you ever visit a website and see LennieG, it’s me!