If Roger Federer is poetry in motion, Serena Williams is nothing short of a war canto. She has won 21 Grand Slam titles and crowned her immeasurable prowess in pushing the borders of what a human can achieve in a sport by winning four straight majors for the second time this year. And yet, you know where this article is leading.
Serena is not the “ordinary” woman, she is not the svelte figure of feminine agility that we are conditioned to expect. Serena can win all the tournaments, she can battle out vicious injuries and triumph seemingly damaging falls through ATP ranks, but Serena’s arms are muscular, so she must be at the end of our jokes.
It may be 2015, but to be a woman professional in a sport is still not one of life’s greatest situations. While detractors closer home have been taking a breather due to the fact that Sania Mirza has gone on to become the first woman in the country with a Wimbledon trophy, India’s topmost squash player, Dipika Pallikal has dropped out of the Nationals due to the abysmal disparity in reward money between men and women.
Serena’s case stands out as a reminder of the fact that she has outdone all social odds — that of being black, that of being a woman and that of engaging in a male dominated sport — and transcended human capacity itself.As celebrities like J.K. Rowling hit out at people who compare Williams’ enduring physical prowess to manliness, the world seems to have at last taken note of the fact that constant and merciless critique of Serena Williams’ arm muscles will not stop her from being remembered as a great.
Arjuna Award winner and the only Indian woman in the Olympics swim team, Nisha Millet knows exactly how it feels to be ridiculed for a physical trait demanded by a sport. “Swimmers have always had broad shoulders, and people have always commented on this physical trait. I suppose that the first level of conditioning you undergo is to turn a deaf ear to all of this. I was once invited to a match of Serena’s and all I can say is that the woman has god-given skills,” says the champion swimmer. Williams reminds us of her spirit — something which shines through in the much shared video of her dancing with Novak Djokovic, at the Wimbledon Champions Ball.
