Why Serena's name must be mentioned amongst Robinson, Ali, Jordan, and Magic

Sep 10, 2015

Now that Serena Williams has defeated her sister Venus and will advance to the U.S. Open, the number one ranked tennis star edges one step closer to becoming the first tennis player since 1988 to win the coveted Grand Slam.

Serena has joined the ranks of athletes who are not just black heroes but are American heroes. These are the larger-than-life athletes who are forever etched in our memory because they stood above the rest.

Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to integrate the major leagues, excelling on the field and enduring racist threats we can only imagine. Muhammad Ali became known for his prowess and skill inside the ring, for his bold audaciousness and for his political activism. The boxing champ converted to Islam and, as a conscientious objector, refused to serve in the Vietnam War.

Arthur Ashe was the first African-American man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and was known for his fight against apartheid and against AIDS, as well as the tennis programs he created for youth in the black community. Magic Johnson spent his entire 13-year career with the L.A. Lakers and was a member of five championship teams and Most Valuable Player multiple times. His HIV status helped raise awareness of of the virus. And Michael Jordan was by far the best NBA player of the 90s, leading the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships and becoming a retail powerhouse through product endorsements.

But Serena has done what none of these other heroes could accomplish, which was to endure the media scrutiny as a black woman and still force America to love her. If you have any doubts that they love her, just look at the murals that Gatorade commissioned in the tennis star’s likeness in Brooklyn. But it wasn’t always like that for Serena, as black women never had an easy time in sports.

Althea Gibson, who broke the color barrier in tennis, was tough as nails and a renaissance woman who reinvented herself, but had a hard time of it, as hecklers told her opponent to “beat the n—-r!” The subject of a PBS documentary, Gibson came at a time that was not ready for black women — certainly not as leaders in a white sport, and before the days of the big-money superstars.

The Williams sisters changed the color and flavor of tennis forever and have inspired a new generation of players. And Serena’s talent and business savvy — she has a fashion line and many endorsements, and is a co-owner of the Miami Dolphins along with Venus — have made her as American as apple pie.

But Serena has had to face stereotypes as an angry black woman with an attitude on the court, and racist and sexist comments, including a Russian tennis official who called her and her sister the “Williams brothers.” Commentators and sports journalists have focused more on her physique, her African body as opposed to her superior skill and mental agility, in a country with years of experience in commoditizing black people and objectifying black women’s bodies in particular. Serena has even faced allegations that she is on steroids. And in a nation that values the white female aesthetic, the media focus is often on Maria Sharpova, who makes more in endorsements than Serena, though she ranks lower and has far fewer titles.

Trained from the age of four by a black father, Richard Williams, in Compton, California, to lead a white country club sport — with a 78-page plan no less — Serena reminds us of what Papa Pope of Scandal once said: “You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have.” A black woman, a champion and an American hero, Serena Williams is showing us how it’s done.

Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove