Culture

People Are Sick Of The Double Standards In The Way Media Reports On White And Black Athletes

Novak Djokovic's recent disqualification highlights just how badly mistreated Serena Williams was in 2018.

by Michelle Rennex  9 September 2020
Novak Djokovic serena williams double standards

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On Monday, Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open after hitting a lineswoman in the throat with a ball.

Near the end of his first set against Pablo Carreño Busta, Djokovic lost a serve and lobbed a tennis ball from his pocket in frustration, which ended up striking a line judge. The woman collapsed and was left winded, but was ultimately fine.

However, while accidental, the US Tennis Association explained that the rulebook states that “hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences” would result in disqualification. As a result, Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open, and lost all rank points that he had earned at the tournament.

Prior to this disqualification, Djokovic was tipped to win the Grand Slam as he had won the title three times prior and is the current world number one. As a result, the reporting of his disqualification has expressed general disappointment in the ruling, calling it “excessive punishment”, “disproportionate” and “unfair”.

But people were quick to note that this is a very stark difference to how the media reported Serena Williams’ verbal exchange with judges in previous years.

In particular, people noted how New York Post author Marc Berman referred to Djokovic’s — unintentional but ultimately still — physical, encounter with a judge as “excessively punished”, while he called Williams a “sore loser” for yelling at a judge during a match.

The Serena Williams article in question refers to the athlete’s outburst at the 2018 US Open. After Williams was hit with a number of code violations during her match against Naomi Osaka, she broke her racquet on the court floor in anger and was eventually given a game penalty.

During the game Williams demanded an apology from the umpire, while sharing that she felt the rulings were “not fair” as “men do so much worse.”

While neither Williams or Djokovic’s actions on the court were right, it’s the way that each incident has been written about that has highlighted the double standards and issues with how right-wing media treats Black women.

For reference, in the article titled ‘Serena acted like a sore loser‘, Berman refers to Williams as “unhinged”, with “a history of sore-losing behaviour”. The author also called Williams’ behaviour “boorish” and “cringe-worthy”, and used a lead image that showed Serena Williams mid-argument instead of one where she was calm.

This is an entirely different vibe to the apologetic image that Berman used as the thumbnail for his article on Novak Djokovic, where he defends the tennis player’s actions. Throughout the piece, Berman tries to rationalise Djokovic hitting the lineswoman, by saying the tennis players actions “lacked malice and intention” and that he was “the first one to rush over to [the woman].”

It’s not just the New York Post either. A number of publications have decided to focus on the US Tennis Association decision to disqualify the athlete, instead of on Djokovic’s actual actions when he literally hit a judge with a ball — accidental or not. Meanwhile, posts about Williams at the time of her “meltdown” instead focused on her as player and not on the penalties she received, despite not ever striking anyone.

Portraying a white, male tennis player as apologetic or “passionate” when they act up but then painting similarly passionate Black, female players as “furious” just works to further push this toxic narrative of the “angry Black woman“. Ultimately both players acted out of frustration, yet the one who actually hurt someone as a result of their meltdown is being coddled by media, while the other was victimised by the press.

Even Australia’s own Herald Sun released a terribly racist caricature of Serena Williams during the 2018 US Open. Featuring Williams jumping up and down on her racquet with a baby’s dummy next to her, the umpire can be seen in the back asking her opponent to “just let her win”.

But it seems that criticism over athletes showing anger and frustration in sport is only reserved for Black women. Fellow tennis player Nick Kyrgios is known for having temper tantrums on the court, but it’s often brushed off as passion. Daria Gavrilova literally smashed her racquet the same year as Williams, but didn’t face anywhere near the same amount of backlash.

Even Novak Djokovic laughed at journalists who once told him that his on-court meltdowns could one day cause his disqualification, showing that the player knew that his antics were wrong and ran the risk of affecting his game.

So it begs the question: Why are so many right-wing outlets so fast to bash Serena Williams for an on-court meltdown, while they defend Novak Djokovic for doing the exact same thing? Double standards is answer. Oh, and pure, unabashed racism too.