Women’s sports have come a long way since the 20th century; however, sexism and misogyny are still rampant. Every female athlete has had to deal with it, even when they grew up to be professionals. Tennis legend Serena Williams faced a lot of discrimination during her career. What set her apart was that she did not hesitate to call out someone when they were wrong.
Serena did just that when Justin Gimelstob had unsavory things to say about her colleagues. Gimelstob called Anna Kournikova a “b*itch,” while he called two other players “s*xpots.” This incident happened back in 2008. Gimelstob, a former American tennis player, made these comments during a radio interview. That same weekend, Justin made it to the ATP board as a players’ representative.
Justin, who had retired from tennis the year before, went on to describe how he wanted to make Kournikova cry. He also described French players Tatiana Golovin and Alize Cornet as “s*xpots”, and Czech player Nicole Vaidisova as a “well-developed young lady”.
Serena, who, along with her sister, Venus Williams, faced a lot of sexual and racial discrimination herself, hit back at Justin for his comments. “Being pro-women’s rights, I just think we’ve come farther than to be referred to like this. Anna is a great girl. For anyone to say that about her is not professional. It’s just totally uncalled for,” she said (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
Kournikova did not want to get into a mud-slinging match with Justin. The ATP, on the other hand, slammed Gimelstob’s comments as “unacceptable.”
How did Justin Gimelstob react to Serena Williams calling him out?
Gimelstob caused a massive controversy with his disparaging comments about Kournikova and others. It caused quite a stir at Wimbledon too, when his World Team Tennis teammate Serena Williams thrashed his comments.
World Team Tennis (WTT) suspended Justin for one match without pay, following his comments. Gimelstob suffered consequences for violating the player code of conduct. Justin was humbled, as he apologized profusely for his conduct.
“I am extremely disappointed in myself. I take full responsibility for all the words that came out of my mouth. Anna Kournikova, World Team Tennis, and many others deserve my deepest apologies. I recognize that my access to communicate to the public should be used in a positive way, and this was clearly not the case last week,” he said in a statement.
While the ATP did not sanction Justin, the WTA welcomed the decision to suspend him. Serena Williams once again shed light on the unnecessary discrimination women face in sports. This incident serves as a reminder of the work that has been done to make progress and how much further we need to go.