"Badly Done Emma"

Always striving to walk more as Jesus would want, I was trying to stay out of the Serena Williams fray that ensued after her meltdown at the 2018 U.S. Open of Tennis. As I am a huge tennis fan, love to watch the major events, and have never been a big fan of Serena; it was really hard for me to stay out of this one (especially since I witnessed the live coverage). But as the weeks have passed the ACLU types have (predictably) blown this way out of proportion.

For those of you not in the loop on this one, here’s what happened:

Serena Williams was issued a violation for her coach communicating to her from the stands during the finals match (clear violation, her coach even admitted to later). After a point later in the match, Williams smashed her racquet on the court (clear violation #2, results in loss of a point). Subsequently, Williams started a running verbal tirade against the umpire, eventually calling him a thief for taking a point away from her (yeah, you’re right, she did it to herself, but stick with me). Her continued verbal haranguing earned her violation #3, and a loss of game (all very clearly spelled out in the rules that a reasonably intelligent 5 year old would probably understand.

Well, that just opened the floodgates with Serena claiming how victimized she is/was on so many levels it was hard to keep up. She was blubbering that she would never cheat;  she’s a mother now (so somehow no matter how outrageous her behavior, it really can’t be that bad; she’s a mom!), yeah I don’t get it either, heck, the jails are full of mothers; she’s always picked on because she’s a woman, black, successful, bold, or all of the above. Of course, she’s somehow managed to acquire a couple hundred million dollars during her “persecution”. We should all be so persecuted.

The whole thing was too ludicrous to comment on (even by my standards), but it just won’t go away. So after hearing the femi-natzis,  racial fire-starters, and other liberal talking-heads running their gobs;  I either was going to vomit, or write on my blog to purge my system. The latter seemed the more hygenic approach.

Actually, factually, Serena Williams is a narcissistic, self-centered, crude, disingenuine person (can you perceive that I’m not a fan?). You may fairly ask, how would I know. Being a tennis fan for long before she was even born, I’ve always followed the game and the big names of the game. Make no mistake, there have not been many bigger names than Serena Williams in the world of tennis. She has posed nearly nude in magazines, has worn suggestive t-shirts in public that draw attention to her chest, dresses on the court with jewelry and outrageous outfits, has threatened to shove a tennis ball down the “bleeping” throat of a lineswoman (how ironic), has graced the cover of a magazine trumpeting her as a “badass woman” (a mantle she obviously revels in), and generally behaves as the diva she envisions herself to be. All of the aforementioned can be verified with a few clicks of a mouse; draw your own conclusions. I already have, and they are well represented by the cartoon caricature of her having a tantrum and looking like a buffoon (which actually better represents her threatening the lineswomen years ago, but I digress). So when the “badass woman” actually reveals her stripes in public, how is it that everyone that celebrates that image gets enraged when the discerning public says the emperor has no clothes? It wasn’t a woman oppressed, or a racial incident, or any other kind of Sharpton/Hillary alchemy. She received what she deserved for letting her guard down and displaying her true colors.

The irony is heightened by her victimizing the young Japanese tennis player who is half Haitian. Her juvenile behavior detracted from what should have been nothing less than a glorious moment for Naomi Osaka; the poor girl was in tears because of Serena’s shenanigans. Pure and simple, and oh so common. Serena Williams is glad to act the engaging, humble super-star when things are going her way. When they don’t, the mask falls and you get the ego-centric hypocrite that she is.

Biblically (and I realize that Williams has never claimed to be a Christian; Jehovah Witness at one time), her behavior is antithetical to how a person should act (let alone, a woman). Starting with the fruits of the Spirit, and just moving through the Text, will demonstrate how far off the mark she is. She is just a microcosm of how women have been “masculinized” in our society. Probably culminating with female UFC fighters. Oh, how Katherine Marshall would cringe.

Throughout this public ordeal, Williams has claimed she was treated differently than others (particularly male tennis players). She would claim that others did worse than her, and suffered lesser, or no, reprisals. This is such a ridiculous approach as many situations are subjective. Some umpires have thicker skins than others and every situation has to be viewed in its entire context. It’s akin to telling the policeman who pulls you over for speeding: “well a lot of other people are speeding, and you didn’t pull them over.” That doesn’t change the fact that you were, and you got caught. She acted a fool, and thankfully, the referee had the guts to call her on it.

In the same way, we as Believers can’t run around comparing our behavior relative to others. We are responsible to God’s standards. We know what is expected of us and any failure here is on us.

As the face of tennis for thousands of fans, Serena Williams is responsible for acting accordingly. To whom much is given, much is expected. And there haven’t been many who have been given more than her in this temporal world. Shame on her.

Hopefully she will respond to the drawing of the Holy Spirit and accept what Jesus did on the Cross for her. Then she can give credit publicly to the One who bestowed so many blessings on her. As noted in Chariots of Fire, it’s good to have a “muscular Christian”. I, for one, would love to have her on our team.