Over the past week, it has been stressed so often that the only thing standing in the path of Serena and her sixth Australian Open is herself and injury. So, in a way it should come as no surprise that injury is exactly what has struck. And not just any old injury, but an eerily similar ankle sprain to the one that wrecked her entire Australian season last year. Though she eventually continued and hilariously managed to inflict a double-bagel on Edina Gallovits-Hall despite the injury, it is still certainly still a large concern, as she later stressed.
Q. The fact you came in with no crutches on is a good start for us. How is the leg?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I haven’t had enough time to assess it yet. Saw the doctor again. We’re just gonna see how it is in a few hours from now.
Q. So Thursday is too early to call, whether you can play Thursday?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, I’ll be out there. I mean, unless something fatal happens to me, there’s no way I’m not going to be competing.
I’m alive. My heart’s beating. I’ll be fine.
Q. When you went over, did it remind you of Brisbane last year?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely. It reminded me a lot of Brisbane. I thought, Oh, not again. But, you know, I’ve had such a good year that I don’t think it’s anything negative. I just think that I was definitely a little bit in shock and I was thinking, I hope it’s not as serious, because it was really serious last year.
Q. Is there any pain or swelling there now?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Obviously there’s pain. Obviously there’s swelling. So it’s going to be really important to see how the next few hours unfold.
It reminded me a lot of Brisbane. I thought, Oh, not again. But, you know, I’ve had such a good year that I don’t think it’s anything negative. I just think that I was definitely
It’s easy to forget that Serena also sprained her ankle during doubles at the US Open last year which also threw that title campaign into doubt. That’s three sprained ankles in essentially one year. If there is ever a time for Serena’s team to ensure that her own footwork or movement isn’t heightening the likelihood of these ankle sprains, now is probably it.
However, if one thing is certain, it’s that without the extensive taping on Serena’s ankle, the injury would have been dramatically worse. Why don’t more players protect themselves by protecting their ankles?
As the draw previews were pumped out earlier this week, a couple of Americans suggested that Steve Johnson could pose a considerable threat to Nicolas Almagro. I laughed. Though he eventually qualified handily, it was only a handful of days ago that he pitifully choked at least three times before barely scraping past 758-ranked 16 year old Thanasi “The Kid” Kokkinakis 6-4 6-7(4) 17-15 in the first round of qualies. In what world could he ever rise from that level to challenging the 10th seed within a week?
Well, apparently on planet Earth, as he pushed the Spaniard all the way to five entertaining sets, producing some quite spectacular shotmaking throughout. None, however, were more outrageous than this exhibition of rapid reflexes and deft touch as he turned an unlucky net cord into a winning shot on game point. Stellar.
By now, all draws have been studied and previewed to within an inch of their lives. People have made their predictions and picks – some bold, others predictable – and are all set and ready to go. But, hey, there’s always room for one more.
Adrian Mannarino France
24 years-old
#170
As with seemingly every other male French tennis player on the planet (well, not all of them. Sorry Gilles), Adrian Mannarino falls under the ‘incredibly entertaining yet ultimately harmless’ category of tennis player. He has variety, a quick mind, a delightfully effortless and style of play and both his tennis and hair are the source of endless entertainment and confusion in equal measure. After an abominable 2012, it appears the flairsome Frenchman has arrived in 2013 with a completely clean slate and fresh mind. Already he has captured his first challenger title in Noumea and has carried this momentum with him into Melbourne, qualifying without the loss of a single set, with two beatdowns in his final two qualifying rounds.
He efforts have hardly been rewarded, however, with a disastrous first round match against fifth-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro on the horizon. But if his two previous meetings with Delpo are anything to go by – a win at Queens in 2011 and an extremely tight four-setter at this venue last year – his imaginative tennis should provide more problems for the title contender. And if not, he’ll still entertain. Watch him. That’s an order.
Ricardas Berankis Lithuania
22 years-old
#110
Pocket Rocket is perhaps the most unintentionally inappropriate nickname in the history of unintentionally inappropriate nicknames, but what else can we call young Rikkie B? He stands at somewhere around 4ft1 yet is capable of serving in excess of 130mph, thanks in a large part to his distinct service motion – the motion uncoiling at the speed of light as his stocky legs launch him clear into the hair. The rest of his game is interesting too, with the talented Lithuanian armed with speed around the court (I said he was 4ft1, after all), an impressive forehand and a penchant for variety.
Since breaking the top 100 back in 2011, the former junior US Open champ has been plagued by a myriad of frustrating injures which have sidelined him during his most important development period and left him floundering while the Raonic, Dimitrov, Tomic, Harrison generation consolidated their places in the top 100. However, he is back and has been slowly regaining his old form and more. He qualified as the second seed with aplomb and has been handed a winnable first round against good ol’ Sergiy Stakhovsky. Should he defeat the mouthy journeyman, the ever-funky Florian Mayer will likely await with the chance to show off his skills on the big stage against a looming Andy Murray in the third round. Watch him too.
Daniel Brands Germany
25 years old
#120
Ah, the Brandwagon. The most mindlessly delusional fan following in tennis…until it wasn’t. Against all odds and despite those ironic declarations from fans of future ATP glory, Daniel Brands’ year kicked off in immense style as he braved his first ATP semi in Doha, defeating Chardy and a returning Monfils to cap off the second best week of his career. Brands previously held a reputation as a player who, at 6ft5, relied mostly on his serve, but he showcased the best of his thunderous forehand and deft touches at the net en-route to his Doha semi-final.
There hasn’t been a let-up since his surprise run. After a tight three-setter in the first round of qualies, the German strolled through his remaining two in straight sets. He has been placed in perhaps the most interesting early section of all, with a first round battle against Klizan and the ever-humble Bernard Tomic a potential second-rounder. Realistically, all three could advance to a third round match with Roger Federer. Only time will tell which player does.
Though I caught brief glimpses of her earlier in her career, my first vivid memory of a full Dominika Cibulkova match dates back to her breakthrough tournament at Amelia Island in 2008. Not only was I taken aback at the fact that she stood at just over 3ft8, I was also shocked to see her game wasn’t the scrappy ten-inches-behind-the-baseline retriever it seemed destined to be. Sure, her style of play then revolved around her lightning-quick feet and strong defence, but the shocking part was when she found an opening or a short ball. That’s when she would launch both feet off the ground whilst simultaneously rotating her entire body as she unleashed one of her now trademark nuclear forehands for a screaming, clean winner. During those nice, innocent years, her game was pleasant marriage between defence and offence.
Nearly five years on and in a post-Zeijko Krajan world, adjectives like “pleasant” and “nice” are merely antonyms of the player she is today. Today, she is angry, she is scrappy and she is gritty. She has attitude and she is unafraid to “POME!” in her opponents’ faces with all the authority of a Sharapova or Azarenka nearly double her height. Above all, her sole aim, intention and tactic in tennis these days is to crush every forehand and backhand with seemingly every single muscle, fibre and ounce of effort in her being. That’s how Dominika Cibulkova plays tennis today.
With this new style of play, her scalps and achievements have been undeniable. In addition to finally ending her comically long wait for her first title, she has scaled as high as a slam semi in addition to reaching the quarters of a slam every year since 2009 whilst defeating current and former #1s such as Azarenka, Wozniacki and Sharapova. Even this week she disposed of two top eight players with the loss of only five games before ousting top 5 Kerber to reach the final. At the very least, she was primed to give top-seeded Radwanska a test, right?
Wrong. Instead, she was subjected to an embarrassing and humiliating double bagel.
To Radwanska’s credit, the Pole was on top of the match from the very beginning (well, she hit a double fault on the first point, but you get what I mean). As usual, along with the standard craftiness, she was consistent and sensible and her plan of action was clear; she looked to either cut off Cibulkova’s angles with central balls or else initiated crosscourt rallies, tempting Cibulkova into attacking down-the-line and almost inevitably committing an error. Lather, rinse and repeat. She also read Cibulkova’s groundstrokes like a children’s book. By the end, the Slovak had a shocking 36 (THIRTY SIX) unforced errors in 12 games, even scarier considering the figure probably doesn’t account for the countless botched service returns which usually fall under the forced error category.
The most abhorrent aspect of a result like this isn’t even the score or Radwanska managing to extract a Li-esque error count out of the Slovak. It happens. The biggest issue is that many players who stand inside the baseline and play this unwaveringly aggressive style of tennis have absolutely no choice but to do so, often because their biggest weaknesses are easily exploited in neutral and defensive positions. As mentioned above, this is far from the case with Cibulkova. Her height may leave her susceptible to bigger players overpowering her, but against a player like Radwanska there is no excuse for not once stepping back and at least attempting to tread water a little whilst searching for other ways to insert her aggression and penetrate the Radwanska defence.
And yet, she didn’t. Instead, she finished the match just as it begun – the final game sealed with a smash error, a forehand error, a backhand error, and finally a double fault to complete one of, if not the worst loss of her career. If Cibulkova really wants to bridge the currently realistic gap between her current ranking and the top 10, this must change immediately.
In the iconic and legendary words of Justine Henin: “Now It’s Time.” Now it’s time to formally induct Bernie Tomic into the Hall of Fame for the most quotable tennis players in history. The Australian has always been candid and entertaining in press – remember when he blasted the Australian Open organizers in 2010 for scheduling his match so late? There was also him laughably claiming in 2011 that he would break into the top 10 a year later, and who can forget last year’s US Open when he hilariously issued a reporter with a The Godfather-style threat. Rarely has he shied away from offering himself a gratuitous self-pat on the back, but over the last few months he has taken this over-confidence to new, unheard of levels. And. It. Is. Brilliant.
It all kicked off mid-December when Pat Rafter and Tennis Australia booted him out of Australia’s first Davis Cup tie in 2013. He responded by essentially branding them liars, before then claiming in all seriousness that he was back on course to being “the greatest player, one day, to [ever] play the game.” He has quite simply hit a Peak Mary Pierce-esque purple patch of quotable quotes and so far in Sydney, plenty of his comments appear to something a top 5 player would utter, rather than someone ranked a glorious 64th on the ATP rankings.
But he’s not all talk.
The year and even this week may be young, but it’s difficult to see how Tomic could have started 2013 any more positively. Though an exhibition, his tennis impressed at the Hopman Cup. Firstly, he dug out an uncharacteristically gritty victory over Tommy Haas, before straight-setting the world number one and finishing with a 3-0 singles record overall. He later noted that Djokovic approached him afterwards, telling him “Good stuff. You were serving really well. I couldn’t do anything. Off the ground you were playing well.” This undoubtedly only reinforced his likely belief that he is God’s gift to mankind.
So far in Sydney it has been much of the same. A straight-sets win over current Aussie #1 Matosevic in the first round, followed by a hugely impressive performance over a nemesis in 2012, Florian Mayer. The improvement in Tomic’s serve has been immediately noticeable, and even more-so in his intentions off the first ball following his serve. Previously, he enjoyed easing into points slowly with a slice or a higher percentage strike, but today every single time his serve presented him with an opportunity to immediately shorten the point against Mayer, he grabbed it with both hands and attacked mercilessly.
He also appears to have a far clearer understanding of how to construct points. For a player who prides himself on his court sense and tennis IQ, his shot selection would often appear so random and illogical. Perhaps it was pure arrogance rather than naivety or a lack of awareness, but he would so frequently be seen monotonously slicing shot after shot while the point was free to be won, then slapping around inane winner attempts when pushed out of position with no realistic chance of making them. Such reckless decision-making was passable in juniors, but easily dealt with by most top 50 players in 2011 and 2012. He hinted that he has worked on specific shot patterns, and his unique strokes are certainly combining far better in 2012 while still maintaining the changes of pace, spontaneity and unpredictability in his shotmaking that makes him both dangerous and entertaining to watch.
Most importantly, he actually looks like he gives a damn. Of course, we will wait with baited breaths to see whether he will turn up and care tomorrow, let alone further down the line once the yearly attention and celebrity he enjoys in January dies down. We will also wait to see just much progress this so-called “new” Bernie T makes on the self-confessed “revenge tour” that is his 2013. But one thing’s for sure, triumph or trainwreck, all of Australia (and the tennis world) will be watching.
Fact. Regardless of the channel, country or tournament in question, Grigor Dimitrov’s tennis receives more love than most seasoned pros. Commentators bow to his image, comparing the Bulgarian to the greatest player of all time, essentially professing their undying love for his game whilst seemingly wanting nothing more than to take his forehand, backhand or serve out on a lavish date. This was certainly the case during last week’s Brisbane final, in which the Aussie commentators spent much of the contest adoringly narrating his every move – their eyes probably assuming the shape of hearts. During the final, one of the commentators even went as far as to say: “He’s a good looking player, and I say that because he does look good.” Well, nice to know.
I mention this because the hype, predictions and expectations placed upon him are essentially based on just that – his style and the superficial similarities to Federer’s game. It certainly isn’t his negative tour win-loss record or the fact that he is yet to grace even the third round of Grand Slam or win a title. One would expect the career of Richard Gasquet to serve as a cautionary tale towards those quick to launch the “Baby Federer” hype machine, but apparently those covering Grigor Dimitrov missed the memo. Instead, people are quick to falsely equate the style that Dimitrov’s tennis exudes with the actual substance and level required to reach the top echelons of the game.
Having said that, there was much to be impressed about from Dimitrov against Murray. The match itself was both engrossing and disappointing. On one hand, it featured entertaining, rapid all-court tennis. However, it was also frustrating in its utterly predictable mental collapse from the Bulgarian. He arrived on fire and looked to have the better of Murray until serving for the first set. Then, after a nervy collapse whilst leading 5-4 with a break, he briefly recovered only to fall apart in even more dramatic style in the tiebreak. The second set saw Murray’s level fall off the face of the earth, but once again Dimitrov squandered yet more chances and hammered the final nail to his coffin. It had the potential to be an entertaining and tight contest, but instead closer resembled a damp squib.
What impressed was the brand of tennis the 21 year-old exhibited. In the past, his athletic gifts and raw all-court style have shone brighter than any other aspect of his game, but Sunday made for completely different viewing as it was the finer aspects of his game that demanded attention. Most notable was his notoriously weak backhand. Murray unsurprisingly focused most of his attention to that wing early on, but rather than the backhand breaking down easily as usual and offering mostly ineffective slices and a weak spot for Murray to smother, Dimitrov responded by showcasing such impressive and improved variety on his backhand wing. He infused his driven backhand with powerful and flatter blows, weightier topspin, some loopier balls and the occasional angle. His slice too appeared a completely new stoke as he combined a variety of different types of slice – deep floating slices, more penetrating slices, and short and low slices with no pace. Rarely did the Bulgarian execute the same shot twice and this elaborate variety caught Murray off-balance, with the Scot unable to settle into any rhythm and forced to find solutions himself.
He also impressed with his instincts around the court. Court sense is generally an innate, natural talent and certainly an area in which Dimitrov has previously left much to be desired. But against Murray he approached the net at the correct moments and made sensible, logical decisions around the court. He also appeared especially observant of how Murray dealt with different aspects of his game. An example being in the first set when Murray began to struggle with short and low slices to his forehand. Dimitrov wasted no time in mercilessly exploiting that weakness with a slew of dropshots and no-pace low slices to Murray’s forehand side. In other words, he looks like he’s growing up and maturing before our eyes.
The question remains just what this maturity is and how far it will take him. Just a couple of days later he arrived in Sydney and shamelessly tanked the match away, quickly reminding us of exactly what we’re dealing with. Hype won’t reveal his true potential, but time will, and 2013 promises to be the year that tells us all we need to know about Grigor Dimitrov.
A while ago I stumbled across my old photobucket account, and with it many amusing, sad and iconic pictures I had long since forgotten about. I suddenly felt the burning and unshakeable urge to share these pictures (well, mostly this picture), and here we are.
It’s safe to say that not everyone is a fan of mixed doubles, but when executed correctly it can be just as entertaining as either of the other two disciplines. Look no further than today’s Hopman Cup deciding rubber which saw prolific Serbs Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic scrape past Aussie youngsters Bernard Tomic and Ashleigh Barty in an epic 3 (more like 2 and a quarter) set match.
For better or worse, crazy things happen when the ATP and WTA collide. But even so, I can’t think of too many more surreal sights in any sport than watching the 5-time Grand Slam winning current ATP world number one and greatest returner on the planet gravely struggling to read and return the serve of a 5ft4, 16 year old girl ranked 175 on the women’s tour. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of the above jaw-droppingly outrageous 29-stroke stroke rally between the four on Serbia’s first match point. (Mixed) Doubles? Love it.
By its very definition, the off-season is supposed to signify end of tennis for another year and offer a well-earnt break for all in a sport that demands so much of both the players and fans who follow it. In reality, however, the tennis rages on in the form of “hit and giggle” exhibitions – wherein the top male and female players pocket often obscene sums of money to simply knock around the ball for an hour or two. This year, between Roger Federer’s grand tour of South America and other one-off events in cities such as Prague, Toronto, Miami, Antwerp, Singapore and many others, those “hit and giggle” exhibitions feel more prominent than ever.
It hasn’t always been laughter, however.
The year was 2000. At the time, the WTA was in a considerably different state to the tour today. Whilst the likes of Azarenka, Wozniacki, Kvitova and Radwanska today have been forced to obediently await the fall of the previous generation before ascending to the top, the young players of the late 90s and early 00s – Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, Venus Williams and Serena Williams – rapidly rose to prominence by brute force, demanding the spotlight both on and off the court and re-branding the image and core dynamics of women’s tennis in the process.
By the end of Y2K, Hingis held five Grand Slams and stood atop of the rankings for god-knows-how-many weeks, Kournikova was one of the most celebrated athletes in history, Venus had seized the previous two slams and two Olympic gold medals whilst embarking on an epic 35-match winning streak, and the legend of Serena was just unfolding. This caused friction both amongst themselves and also with the established jocks who rejected these youngsters who marched in with their over-confidence, trash talking, sex-appeal and glamour, demanding to be seen and respected.
Throughout this period, notable incidents involving these four and others mounted up; Hingis triumphantly flicked a signature Williams bead into the press crowd after defeating the elder Williams in the 1997 US Open final before declaring that she had no rivals, Serena famously brushed aside one of Hingis’ many putdowns by coyly suggesting that the Swiss champion “lacks formal education”, and long before they physically met on or off the court it was comments from a pre-teen Kournikova who sowed the first seeds of drama to come in the early 90s, as the press hyped up a Kournikova-Williams rivalry while she competed in a junior tournament at Rick Macci’s tennis academy in Delray Beach – the Williams Sisters’ old stomping grounds.
Lindsay Davenport often entered the fray too, branding Kournikova “a circus act” and allegedly kicking the bag of yet another controversial young upstart, Alexandra Stevenson, across the locker-room. During Venus’ extended hiatus in the first half of 2000 which spurred retirement rumours, Davenport’s sharp tongue lashed out at Williams with the quote to end all quotes: “Who knows what’s going on with that family? Serena is more friendly. At least she can bring herself to say hi. Venus can’t – or won’t – even speak. Venus likes to give the impression that she’s so great, that she’s ‘Da Bomb’, or whatever. She can say it all she wants but that just means she doesn’t have it. She gets psyched out in big matches, she’s not happy with her sister winning and the pressure is really falling on her.”
After Venus returned and claimed her first Grand Slam title barely a few months later at Wimbledon, Hingis cornered Davenport at the US Open ahead of her quarterfinal match against the younger Williams and demanded a victory. Davenport responded by expecting Hingis to reciprocate the deal and dispose of Venus, and thus the infamous anti-Williams pact was born. It made headline news and became embroiled in drama as Richard Williams had his own unsurprisingly controversial opinion on the pact. Davenport did indeed oust Serena, and Serena did little disguise her utter disgust as afterwards; “Obviously no one would want to see an all-Williams final because everyone doesn’t really like us. It’s going to happen in the future, inevitably. Nobody’s going to be able to stop it.” Venus was even more furious, but she publicly responded with humour, jokingly suggesting “It’s getting to be like the WWF.” And then she beat them both to take the title.
Nonetheless, the most dramatic incident occurred during the 2000 exhibition season. Despite forming a friendship and fruitful doubles partnership which secured the pair two Grand Slam titles and the top ranking spot in the same year, a November exhibition in Santiago, Chile between Hingis and Kournikova brought that friendship temporarily crashing down. After a questionable lines-call, Hingis asked Kournikova to intervene but the Russian sided with the original call. A fuming Hingis responded at the next change of ends as only Martina Hingis could, triumphantly shouting “Do you think you are the queen? Because I AM THE QUEEN!” Kournikova wept through the remaining games of the exhibition.
An hour-long locker room scream-fest between the pair followed as flowers, vases, trophies and insults were allegedly chucked across the room. The choice of weaponry being amusingly symbolic; Hingis craving the popularity, affection and flowers from admiring fans that were afforded to Kournikova, whilst the Russian wished for the trophies and success that had been effortlessly lapped up by Hingis. Event organizer and former pro Jaime Fillol didn’t even attempt to dampen the rumours surrounding the exhibition bust-up, instead hysterically claiming “It was so bad I thought they were going to beat each other up.”
What’s most interesting about these events is how much, despite the publicity these encounters generated and the fact that they would kill for this exposure today in 2012, the WTA openly discouraged it back then. They attempted to muzzle the Swiss Miss’ Everest-sized mouth by forcing her to attend PR training sessions and sometimes even resorted to quite ridiculous publicity stunts. Not least at the US Open in 1999 when they orchestrated a cringe-worthy public “truce” between Hingis and Richard Williams, which involved Hingis presenting Williams with a signed T-Shirt whilst reciting scripted lines. Mary Carillo summed it up best: “The WTA PR people cooked up this twisted and bizarre stunt. Hingis didn’t want to give this guy a T-shirt – she wanted to give him something else.”
After being subjected to Henin-esque dishonesty from Martinez Sanchez at the French Open, Serena Williams delivered one of her more memorable quotes:
“I’m like one of those girls on a reality show that has all the drama,” she said “and everyone in the house hates them because no matter what they do, like, drama follows them.”
Right now those comments are ringing true as ever, with professional tennis currently closer resembling a trashy reality show rather than a sport, with a plot-line involving Serena never too far away. Here we are, now knee-deep in the inaccurately named off-season, and yet the drama is raging on like never before. First, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova’s father was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for smuggling cocaine, meth and weed; then former top 50 player Claudine Schaul was sentenced to 20 months in prison for, uh, also trafficking cocaine; Novak Djokovic then decided to dive head-first into the action by allegedly purchasing the planet’s entire supply of donkey cheese; and to top it all off, Karolina Wozniacka is now said to be an undercover member of the Polish branch of the KKK. Or something.
It has now been four whole days since Wozniacki decided to garner a few cheap laughs in an otherwise stale exhibition by impersonating Serena during her Brazil exhibition against Sharapova. As one could have easily anticipated, the joke involved the Dane stuffing her bra and butt with towels before looking mightily pleased with herself. Many laughed while others didn’t, but at the end of the day it was just a harmless joke, right? Apparently not. Instead, the story quietly made the rounds, slowly picking up momentum on social media sites. Three days after the exhibition match, Daily Fail caught wind of it, and the rest is history.
The overall reaction has been quite fascinating to me. Not just the initial reaction, but also the reactions to the reactions. On one side stands us, the tennis community. The view that most in the tennis community appear to take on this is (shockingly) summarized well by none other than Elizabeth Hasselbeck on The View. Much of these issues rest on context, which we on the inside are more than aware of. We all know that – as unfunny and tired as they can be – players do always impersonate of each other. This joke has already been attempted plenty of times including by Andy Roddick in a laughing Serena’s presence. We also understand the different relationships between the players involved these impersonations.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media with their sensationalizing and laughable lack of fact-checking skills or basic knowledge of tennis, have essentially created a narrative that paints Wozniacki as an unsuccessful blonde white girl who jealously decided to mock and degrade her more superior counterpart in her absence. From that perspective, outrage is actually probably the logical reaction, but of course this is the result of complete misinformation and lies which have culminated in Wozniacki being ridiculously vilified and abused for essentially an inside joke.
What was most interesting is actually how many tennis fans are just as oblivious to and dismissive of the racial stereotyping, criticism and degradation Serena has faced her entire career for her body type, as the media and non-tennis fans are to the tennis world. Big butts are indisputably a massively-stigmatized stereotype of black women, and one which dates from today in 2012 back to as far as slavery and colonial times. In short, this issue was not created just yesterday out of thin air and copying them in that manner can be problematic. If we hypothetically lived in a world where Serena was not the confident – for lack of a better word – diva we either love or loathe today, and was someone who was considered more sensitive and likelier to be offended by Wozniacki’s caricature of her body, this would likely be a bigger issue for everyone.
Thus, it’s important to understand that though Wozniacki’s intentions were entirely innocent, blown out of proportion and completely undeserving of the vitriol she has received – intention doesn’t negate or absolve blame from the offence that those actions can cause. When the line between impersonating players’ amusing tics and quirks, and actively caricaturing someone’s different and widely-critiqued body type becomes blurred, offence is often only around the corner.
