They Are Very Very Good. Simple As That.

Interesting stuff from Navs re Venus, Serena, and bunch of fat ugly chicks.

Fortunately, by that time, Martina Navratilova had weighed in with a more seasoned view. When we sat down in the lobby of the locker room after her match in what they call the Ladies Invitation Doubles (a euphemism for seniors), she agreed that women’s tennis lacked clarity and conviction at the top, and mainly because of Venus and Serena’s chronic absences apart from non-Grand Slam events.

“They play in the playoffs but not in the regular season,” said Navratilova, always quick with a cross-reference. “But I don’t want to say their success is because the other women aren’t that good. I would prefer to look at it more as what it says about them, how great they are.”

At that moment, Serena walked by, smiling. “I was just talking about you,” Navratilova said. With Serena gone, she added, “I just wish you would play more.”

The amazing Williams story is often viewed through the prism of race, and at times, they have been held to more demanding behavioral standards than their peers. In this case, defining them competitively based on the quality of their competition, Navratilova raised a different stereotype.

“That old women’s double standard, which I hate,” she said.

She remembered resentment here five years ago, some grumbling over her wild-card entry into the singles draw. She won her first-round match, 6-0, 6-1, against Catalina Castaño of Colombia.

“People said, big deal, look at the opponent,” she said. “But when Mario Lemieux comes back to hockey and scores a goal, it’s, Oh, he’s great.”

Her point was that she was 47 at the time of her last Wimbledon singles victory. How great was that?

To expand her argument, couldn’t we pose similar questions about the men’s tour, where Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have won a combined 20 Grand Slam events in the last six and a half years?

“Does that mean the other guys aren’t any good or that Roger and Rafa are great?” Navratilova said.

Serena has 10 Grand Slam victories to Venus’s 7. You hear all the time that both should have Federer numbers by now. It is not an unreasonable argument, but the effective counter is that they have still managed to outachieve and outlast a generation, with ease and without burning out.

I liked Martina's comments there.  Why does Venus and Serena's awesomeness have to mean that everyone else sucks?  Why can't people just focus on their awesomeness?  The American Press seems to want to anyway.  Go with it.