1. Serena Williams Slams CEO Over
Sexist Tennis Comment
By Anna Flahaven
This past week a tennis tournament held at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California (also known as BNP
Paribas Open) caused quite a lot of controversy then it had in the past years.
The CEO of the tournament Raymond Moore in an interview on Sunday got asked this question about
how Indian Wells is becoming a warm-up event for the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis and was
asked what set it apart from the others. Moore’s answer to this simple question is just appalling:
“You know, in my next life when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA (Women’s Tennis
Association),” he said, with a laugh,” because they ride on the coattails of the men. They don’t make any
decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on
my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this
sport. They really have.”
Where should I even begin on this one? The fact the Moore is calling all the success the WTA has had as
“riding on the coattails of men” is incredible sexist and statistically just plain wrong.
But when will women get the credit they deserve in sports? There are plenty of facts in women’s tennis that
prove Moore’s comments are soooo wrong.

2. One of the greatest women tennis players, SteffiGraff, proves Moore wrong with simple stats. She held the
#1 ranking for women’s tennis for a total of 377 weeks. This is more than the current highest ranking #1
male tennis player Roger Federer who has a totalof 302 weeks. If this fact wasn’t enough to prove Moore’s
attitude is wrong is the success of Serena Williams. She is dominating the WTA at 33 which is an age most
professional tennis players retire. She has successfully secured 21 Grand Slam titles which is more than the
current male tennis holder; Roger Federer with 17 Grand Slam titles.
As if these first comments were not bad enough Moore tried to deflect his comments with even more
ridiculous statements about how the future of women’s tennis have players who are “very attractive
prospects” to take over when the current #1 player, Williams retires.
Moore was quoted as saying,
” I think the WTA have a handful – not just one or two — but they have a handful of very attractive
prospects that can assume the mantle. You know, Muguruza, Genie Bouchard. They have a lot of very
attractive players. And the standard in ladies tennis has improved unbelievably.”
When the interviewer tried to get Moore to explain himself and his confusing statements about whether
players were “attractive” physically or as competitors in the sport he said he meant it in both ways.
Hmm. So not only has Moore said the women’s tennis is solely successfulbecause of men but is also going
to be successfulbecause many of the upcoming players are physically attractive. How did this guy become
the CEO of a major tournament?
This is not the first comment about women in sports. Many comments have been made about performance
and physical looks in the WNBA, Boxing, and Track and Field events. As a female athlete, I hope this
stereotype of women will soon fade. Instead female athletes should be praised for all the accomplishments
they achieve throughout their careers.
Hoping for a response from one of the current WTA players the queen herself, Serena Williams responded
in the most impressive and classiest ways possible.
“Obviously I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that. I think
Venus, myself, a number of players have been — if I could tell you every day how many people say they
don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister, I couldn’t even bring up that number. So I
don’t think that is a very accurate statement. I think there is a lot of women out there who are more — are
very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it
definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate.”
Mic Drop. But Serena didn’t stop there. Williams continued to say:
“Yeah, I’m still surprised, especially with me and Venus and all the other women on the tour that’s done
well,” she said. “Last year the women’s final at the US Open sold out well before the men. I’m sorry, did
Roger play in that final or Rafa or any man play in that final that was sold out before the men’s final? I
think not. So I just feel like in order to make a comment you have to have history and you have to have
facts and you have to know things. You have to know of everything.”
Williams ended her comments with this incredible and classy statement:
“I mean, you look at someone like Billie Jean King who opened so many doors for not only women’s
players but women’s athletes in general. So I feel like, you know, that is such a disservice to her and

3. every female, not only a female athlete but every woman on this planet, that has ever tried to stand up for
what they believed in and being proud to be a woman.”
Serena is spot-on with her comments and showed she is not going to sit by while another discriminatory
comment about women in sports was made. Of course,the tournament issued an apology for the statements
Moore made but the damage had already been done.
This most likely will not be the last negative comments heard about women in tennis or any sport. I hope
if enough female athletes like Serena Williams will speak up and acknowledge this attitude is not
appropriate that female athletes can finally get the praise they deserve.