It must be nice when talent you were born with isn’t even your favorite thing in the world to do. That’s the case with Venus and Serena Williams, two of the most physically talented tennis players the sport has ever seen, with the least amount of concern for what the sport could ever think about them.
Their ouster at the French Open on the same day is just the latest
installment for the Williams’ sisters ongoing morality play, "I Really
Don’t Feel Like Doing This." Blame it on their father, blame it on endorsements, blame it on ESPN, but Venus and Serena are fully aware of what they are capable of, and have no problem turning it on and off at their pleasure.
You could make the case that because they were forced into this life, their maturity is yielding a new perspective on what is important to them as individuals. They value their outside professional ventures, they value celebrity standing, and their ability to manipulate both. They don’t need tennis unhinging that in any way, so you can understand why sometimes they would rather mail it in than pander to our expectations as fans.
Maybe they’ve made enough money shilling for endorsements that they’ve learned the value in being their own brand. They realize that professional tennis won’t be their permanent bank deposit slip, and would rather focus on more sustainable investments than world travel and physically exhausting competitions.
Maybe they are just enjoying being two young, attractive women with worldwide appeal, and would rather not be troubled with the bland pressure of being the best tennis players in the world. Maybe they want to be starlets living as care-free a life as money can buy.
Either way, we’re kind of obligated to criticize them for that. We didn’t ask for them to be the best, but they owe it to us to keep up our expectations. That’s the trade off between fans and athletic stars. You entertain us, we’ll make you rich and famous. Fans usually don’t renege on that deal that easy.
But maybe we should make the exception for Venus and Serena Williams that we didn’t make for Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods and countless other stars who shined before they were legally allowed to drive. Maybe we should hand the keys to their professional and personal happiness back to them, and hope that they drive their lives anywhere else but into a ditch. Sure, we’ll miss having them around in the sports arena, but we’ve got enough memories to last us for a while.
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