Why I Write About Sister Serena Williams

by Ahmed Olayinka Sule, CFA

suleaos@gmail.com
http://www.scribd.com/Alatenumo/documents

Why I Write About Sister Serena Williams

Ahmed Sule, CFA
With Serena winning her 19 th Grand Slam title, I feel now is an appropriate time to answer the
question - Why I Write About Serena Williams? For the past seven and a half years, I have
been writing about the Williams Sisters in general and Serena Williams in particular (see
Appendix A for a bibliography of some articles I have written). The issues I have covered
include but are not limited to photo documentaries of Serenas exploits on the court, reviews
of books written by members of the Williams family, fictitious dialogues about the sisters,
satires and numerous letters to the press and tennis establishment protesting the ill-treatment
of the Williams sisters.
My writing about Serena has generated a number of responses from readers of my musings.
Some are bewildered at my dedication towards the sisters. Others feel I have some sort of
psychological obsession with Serena; they sometimes joke that I am a stalker and could be
subject to a restraining order keeping me at a distance from her. Some critics suggest that I
focus my energy defending a person who is already famous and influential. Others feel I
should write about the world's challenging issues rather than screaming each time Serena is
racially abused. Some conclude that I write about her because I am idle. A few take a marketbased view and question the logic of me advocating for Serena when I dont get a share of
her prize winnings. Before I respond, I will discuss my journey on becoming an advocate for
Serena.
I first came into contact with the beautiful game of tennis in the eighties while watching the
Wimbledon championships on TV in Nigeria. I would see white players wearing white clothes
playing on green grass. I listened to the insightful analysis of Ayo Ositelu as he explained the
playing styles of Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker,
and John McEnroe. Towards the end of the 1990s I began to see images of two black sisters
who had white beads on their heads. I was intrigued because unlike the other tennis players I
had seen or read about, these two sisters were black like me. I began following their progress
passively.
I watched my first live tennis match in 2007 when my friend Carl Snyman took me to
Wimbledon. After queuing for a couple of minutes we got a ground entrance pass and
watched a number of matches on the outside court. We later went to Court One to watch a
match and while there, I found out that Serena was playing on Centre Court. Although I did
not have a ticket to get into Centre Court, I decided to try my luck. Fortunately for me, the
steward allowed me into Centre Court where Serena Williams was playing Daniela
Hantuchova. During the match, Serena tore her calf muscle, which restricted her movement
on the court. Despite this setback, she still managed to overcome the pain barrier to win the
match. That was my first taste of seeing Serenas resilience.
A few days later, an article appeared in the Daily Mail with the headline, Age of beauty over
as Maria trounced by a Williams again. When I read the article I was enraged because the
author made a number of derogatory comments about the sisters and their father. He
suggested that the sisters were ugly and he referred to them as ghetto girls writing, Their
Russian victim (Sharapova), only 20 but starting to look a weary veteran of the modern crashbang-wallop game, has been double-teamed and tag-wrestled into submission this year by
the ex-ghetto girls. In another article in the Daily Mail, the paper suggested that Serena was
using her injury as an excuse for losing to Justin Henin. In response to these slights on the
sisters, I wrote my first protest letter titled Dont Diss My Sister. From that moment on, I
made a conscious effort to become a defender of the Williams Sisters legacy. Ever since I
penned that letter to the Daily Mail, I have become accustomed to writing to people of
authority in the media, government, religion and the corporate world protesting about one
form of injustice or the other. In other words, it is likely that without Serena and Venus, there
would probably have been no Alatenumo the activist. I finally met Queen Serena when she
came to London to sign her autobiography. After queuing inside the Waterstone bookshop at
Knightsbridge for a couple of hours, I came face-to-face with my shero, exchanged a few
words and she signed the two copies of the book I bought ( see cover picture).
Now let me move on to address those who question why I write about Serena. For those who
say that I focus too much on her instead of addressing more serious issues confronting the
world, all I can ask them to do is to review my body of work and make their own conclusion on

whether I really ignore such issues. Writing about Serena and writing about issues of social
justice are not mutually exclusive activities. One can be passionate about Serena Williams
and at the same time be passionate about issues of social justice. Those who say that Serena
Williams does not need defending because she is rich and famous fail to realise that as
Martin Luther King once said, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Serena
Williams is a strong black woman and if she can be disrespected because of the colour of her
skin, what chance does a black person who is not as influential as Serena have? By
protesting against these unjust actions inflicted upon her, I am telling her detractors that
Serena and other black people are human beings and deserve to be treated with respect. For
the sake of clarity, I would like to point out that my Serena advocacy is not based on a market
driven utilitarian principle where I expect to receive a share of her winnings or recognition
from her; it is based on seeing justice served.
So why do I always write about Serena? I write about her because I am a fan. Some may call
me a Serena fanatic, but I disagree - I see myself as a Serena fan. Like any typical football
fan, I am a passionate Serena supporter who will go the extra mile to support his team. I am
an Arsenal football fan and if I can travel to watch Arsenal matches, purchase Arsenal
merchandise and cry openly at a train station when Arsenal lost a match, why cant I write
about Sister Serena?
I write because she deserves to be celebrated while she is in her prime. Serena is one of the
greatest players (male or female; black or white; living or dead) to have ever graced the game
of tennis. But what does she get in return? She is not only the most disliked multiple grand
slam winner in tennis history, but she is also the most dismissed and most disregarded tennis
player. For long, the accomplishments of black people have been airbrushed from the history
books; in Serenas case, her accomplishments are being airbrushed while she is still in active
service. Quite often in the West, black icons like Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, and Martin
Luther King are not celebrated in their prime only for them to be venerated as saints when
they are old, frail or dead. My writing is not only an attempt to reverse this trend, but to also
set the records straight about a black icon. I write about her because as a black lady
competing in a lily-white sports, she faces the twin evil of racism and sexism. In my writing I
try to expose these evils and hopefully put pressure on the tennis establishment to make
tennis a racist and sexist free zone. I also write because I believe Serena does not have to
morph from an African Queen to a Barbie Doll before she earns the respect of sports writers,
tennis pundits and tennis fans.
I also write about Serena and Venus because of my love for them. When I talk about love, it is
not the Eros kind of love but a sisterly type of love. I love Serena and Venus just like how I
love my two biological sisters. I guess upon reading this my sisters may say, hmmm but
Ahmed if you love the Williams as much as us, why dont you also write about us ? I would
write with as much passion about them if they pick up a tennis racket, compete in the Grand
Slams and are ill-treated because of the colour of their skin.
I write about Serena because she excels at what she does. She always gets the job done.
Nineteen Grand Slam single titles (and counting); oldest number one seed in womens tennis
history; most decorated Olympic tennis player (male or female); only person to complete a
career Golden Grand Slam in both singles and doubles; winner of Grand Slam titles in three
different decades; holder of the longest span between first and current Grand Slam title (15
years); possessor of the most potent serve in womens tennis It is plain to see that she is
worth writing about.
In closing, the last seven and a half years writing, photographing and watching Sister Serena
play has not only been a pleasure but it has also been an honour. Thanks to Sister Serena, I
have had the opportunity of traveling to the far ends of the world to see her play; thanks to
Sister Serena, I have now come to enjoy watching tennis whether or not she is playing;
thanks to Sister Serena, she has indirectly given me the boldness to speak truth to power in
the face of injustice; thanks to Sister Serena I have been able to meet online and offline
tennis friends in different parts of the world who also love Serena. To put it in plain English, I
have no apology, no regret and no shame for writing about my wonderful Sister Serena.
Selah.
Ahmed Sule, CFA
31 January 2015

Appendix A
Bibliography of Some Articles Written About Serena and Venus Williams
Title
IOC, WTA, USTA, RTF and ITF -- It Is Time To Call Shamil
Tarpischev To Account For His Comments Against The
Williams Sisters
The Tenacity of a Black Father
What "They" Said About Serena Williams Part I, II, III
Dont Diss My Sister
Chris Evert, Pam Shriver, ESPN You All Owe Serena
Williams An Apology
The Determination of a Black Princess
Reflections On the Crowds Attitude Towards Serena Williams
at Centre Court
In Order To Save English Football We Need To Learn From
Richard, Venus and Serena Williams
Love Serena Hate Racism
The Queen of tennis
The GOAT Dialogue
Serena and the Certainties of Life
10 and a half Reasons why the Williams Sisters Deserve
Respect at SW 19
2013 French Open- Unquantifiable
Wimbledon has much to teach a Britain: A Rejoinder
Myth and Facts- Williams Sisters
Indescribable
Agassi Approach Works for Venus
Andy Murray, Serena Williams, Wimbledon and the Justice of
Roosting Chickens
Come to Win

Classification
Protest letter
Book review
Article
Protest Letter
Protest Letter
Book review
Article
Letter
Essay
Satire
Creative writing
Photo Essay
Article
Photo Essay
Rejoinder
Article
Photo Essay
Rejoinder
Article
Book review