I decided to take a break from reading about the historical development of states and rights in Europe to check in on the Australian Open [1] women's singles final. Since I don't have ESPN, I tuned in to the on-line audio broadcast of the final just in time to hear Justine Henin-Hardenne forfeit the final, giving Amelie Mauresmo a 6-2, 2-0 victory, and her first Grand Slam title. As much as I enjoy Henin-Hardenne's game (lord, that backhand is a thing of beauty), I'm thrilled about Mauresmo's victory (she, too, has a lovely backhand; yeah, I like one-handed backhands (Roger Federer's is the most beautiful I've ever seen)).
Tomorrow, Mauresmo became (sorry, just had to do that since the final is played on Saturday but it's still Friday here) the first openly gay player to win a Grand Slam singles title since Martina Navratilova won her last Wimbledon title in 1990. (Amazingly, Navrativlova's last Grand Slam title--number 58--came in 2003, when, at age 46, she won the Australian Open mixed doubles title with Leander Paes. Navratilova still holds the overall record for professional singles titles--men or women--with 167.) While the fact that Mauresmo is a lesbian may not seem like a big deal, it was a big deal [2] the last time she was in a Grand Slam final, the 1999 Australian Open:
In 1999, Mauresmo was 19, had just emerged on the tennis scene and had created a stir by being openly gay.
She was caught up in a minor scandal when [Martina] Hingis reportedly said -- in German -- that the strong, athletic Mauresmo was "half a man."
Hingis denied making the comments, but they were widely reported and Mauresmo later admitted it had been a distraction.
Ironically, the player who started that controversy made a come-back at this year's Open after having been away from the game for three years. Hingis made it to the quarterfinals in women's singles (she was beaten by Kim Clijsters) and is in Sunday's mixed doubles final (with Mahesh Bhupathi). Let's hope Martina's learned a few things--both from the player she was named after, and from her time off.
Openly gay athletes seem to be primarily confined to individual sports. My guess is that there are two reasons for this. On the male side, the masculine imaginary of athleticism seems to exclude the possibility of homosexuality. Indeed, when the topic of homosexuality in male team athletics is brought up, it's generally not received very well by the athletes on those teams, even hypothetically [3]. Indeed, all of the male athletes I can remember (David Kopay, Roy Simmons, Glenn Burke, Esra Tuaolo) who were involved in team sports and came out did so after their careers were over.
Women's team sports seem to be a bit different. There is, of course, Cheryl Swoopes, who came out last year. Indeed, while there may not be many public lesbians in the WNBA, the league hasn't shied away from courting a lesbian fan base, a definite change in the marketing of women's sports. Historically, because of the cultural linkage between masculinity and athleticism, there was a general assumption that female athletes were "that way" and their professional leagues and associations took active steps to femme the ladies up. To win fans, they thought they had to de-gay their leagues (maybe the were, and still are, right...time will tell).
So, we're left with individual sports, for now, as the primary location in which it's "safe" for gay athletes to come out, and we're still counting on one hand for each sport (well, maybe other than figure skating). That's ok, for now. A decade ago, we were working with just a couple fingers total. When Martina Navratilove was playing, she waited until later in her career to come out, and lost endorsement money because of it. Now, we have a player who's been out her entire professional career. That's progress.
Beyond all that, though, we've got a young woman who was tagged with the label, "unable to win the big matches." The fluid, powerful groundstrokes were attached to a head-case. Not any more.
Congratulations, Amelie. You're no longer the player who "couldn't win the big match." You're a Grand Slam champion.
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