More sexist yuckiness from male tennis players

Lest you think Justin Gimelstob is an anomaly in his thoughts on women and female tennis players, think again. Diane at Women Who Serve posts on recent comments by Serbian Janko Tipsarevic (whose most recent claim to fame was his Wimbledon 2008 upset over Andy Roddick) which reveal his utter misogyny.
And I am here to add these little discussed comments by ATP tour professional Dmitry Tursunov who feels that smashing a racket is like having rough sex. I was going to copy and paste the remainder of the comments but they're pretty violent and misogynist so you can read them for yourself here. In sum, Tursunov sees breaking a racket as similar to breaking a woman. And he only feels a little bit sorry about it when it's over. Lovely.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sounds like a pretty stupid guy, generally. Maybe if he spent more time and thought on playing tennis well than destroying his equipment, I'd have heard of him before. OK, I've probably heard the name, when he was knocked out of a tournament, once or twice.
Even more than his ridiculous assertion that childish behavior is a positive thing that fans WANT to see, I'm disturbed by the wastefulness of his approach--and not just in terms of the racquets he breaks. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should do it.
I can't believe a newspaper printed that garbage.
July 10, 2008 3:42 AM
Diane said…
Anon, Tursunov is a very popular player, with peers and with fans. He did that "blog battle" with Bryanne Stewart, and he appeared in drag on the court.

It turns out that comments Tipsarevic made a few years ago are much worse than his recent comments. They can be found in many places, and appear now in the comments section of my post: http://tinyurl.com/6cfd9r
July 10, 2008 10:19 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why trans athletes?

In a continuation of my last post in which I crib from GLAD lawyer Jennifer Levi's thoughtful social media posts, I offer here an explanation of why and how trans athletes became the target of the right. First, I keep seeing left of center posts/headlines/discourse that highlight how few trans girls/women are competing in sports. I don't love this framing. The underlying premise of inclusion and access does not have a tipping point.  Perhaps what it is meant to show is how the right is weaponizing this issue. This is both reasonable and true but not really very profound in its assessment. Look at some of the groups and people doing the work of banning trans athletes and you will also see agendas which are racist, and anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic, and anti-LGB as well.  If I have not already recommended Judith Butler's Who's Afraid of Gender? (though I am pretty sure I have), go read it. Some of what Butler says is what Levi echoed in a recent posting contemplating the...
Read more

The trans athlete ban: Part 3a: NCAA hypocrisy

 [this is cross-posted with Title IX Blog where I will also post something about the announcement that NIL is not subject to Title IX] The NCAA's new policy banning transwomen from competing in women's sports arrived (seemingly) minutes after the administration issued its executive order banning transwomen and girls from participating in school-sponsored sports teams.  The NCAA did include verbiage though which is worth looking at.  This is the synopsis at the top of the press release:  Men's category open to all eligible student-athletes, women's category restricted to student-athletes assigned female at birth, schools directed to foster welcoming environments on all campuses. But it is not accurate.  The women's category--for competition purposes--is open to people students assigned female at birth who are not taking testosterone. What we see here is a different standard. Testosterone levels matter only for some people. Taking it knocks you out of the women's...
Read more

The trans athlete ban, Part II: Capitulation

 The same day as the president signed the executive order banning transwomen in school-sponsored sports (which WILL have more widespread effects--i.e., recreational sports for youth and adults), the NCAA issued its own change on transwomen in collegiate sports which, for the purpose of "consistency" will also prohibit transwomen from competing in women's NCAA sports.  [I wrote about the effects the EO will have on Title IX compliance which is something that NCAA purports to care about, at Title IX Blog .] I would have been surprised (in a good way), if they had not. They give in to outside pressure regularly (with positive and negatives effects). But this policy is another example of their failure to protect athletes. [Lack of penalties for schools that shield predatory coaches and doctors as well as athletes who commit sexual assault; their exploitation of Black men who help them make their billions every March; their laughable adherence to an ahistorical definition of ...
Read more