Serena vs. Caroline vs. The World

Serena, Caroline, & You

            In class we had a discussion on the Claudia Rankine book, Citizen. This book is filled with many eye opening and shocking stories that cross the line of racism and fulfills many immoral actions portrayed by the everyday human being. My classmates and I were asked to select a particular theme or concept that we thought the book could follow. In a quick manner I was able to notice the “you” point of view and how not every story has just two sides. There can be various sides and opinions to such a small issue that could ultimately lead into a catastrophe. An example I was able to draw further evidence on was the conflict between Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki during a 2012 exhibition match. For those of you that know, both of these women are professional tennis players that have battled amongst each other for the top seed in the rankings for many years now.

            On December 12, 2012 shortly after the crowning of the WTA player of the year (Serena Williams), Caroline Wozniacki pulled a stunt that would be to this day a highly controversial issue. During the match Wozniacki came out onto the court with towels stuffed into both her top and shorts the mock her opponent Serena. With Wozniacki and Williams being of different races some people thought this was a huge portrayal of racism even though from Wozniacki’s point of view she was just “razzing” one of her fellow opponents and friends.  She was not trying to offend Serena nor was she mocking her race.

            This is where the “You” point of view was really entertained. With Wozniacki’s actions happening on national television it gave the whole world a look at what happened. There could have been a random tennis fan in Minnesota that could have seen this and assumed that these two athletes were not friends and that in fact Woniacki was making fun of who Serena is. With that in mind, I really want to point out that the media can sometimes take a perspective that is not necessarily correct and make it seem much worse. By realizing that if not on a national stage and maybe in lets say on normal neighborhood tennis court, this action from Wozniacki could have been seen as funny amongst the two girls. By blowing up the proportion of location and crowd is where you run into a line of interpretations that could prove to be very faulty.

            After our class discussion I went back to my house and reflected upon everything I learned that day and for some reason I was unable to focus on anything but this topic. To realize that a childish stunt pulled between two athletes was blown to this scale and for media (CNN to be specific) to have such a field day was shocking to me. A good part of me thinks that if both of these women were in the same race the end results would have not ended in the way that it did. By the “You” perspective being entered in the situation it leaves a huge amount of room for anyone to voice an opinion. I am coming to a vast appreciation of what Claudia has portrayed in her book. With very bold stories like these I was able to really open my mind and realize that the world is much larger and not everyone has the same ideals as what I believe in.