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Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 389
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 10:30 am: | 
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Serena Williams is opening a school in Senegal.
I wonder if it will be prison-like the way Oprah's school is described. LOL.
By KAREN CROUSE
Published: March 28, 2007
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., March 27 — It was less a match than a memorandum of what Serena Williams is capable of when she puts her mind behind her might. Covering the court like a tarp, Williams suffocated top-seeded Maria Sharapova in 58 bloodless minutes Tuesday in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open.
The final score was 6-1, 6-1, and from high above Crandon Park’s Stadium Court, it looked more lopsided. Before the first point was tallied, Sharapova seemed to sense that she was in for a long afternoon. She kept hitting serves after the chair umpire called, “Time,” indicating the end of warm-ups. Whatever she was searching for, Sharapova did not find it, committing eight double faults.
On the other side of the court, the 13th-seeded Williams was hitting on all cylinders. Her ground strokes were so well grooved, Sharapova looked as if she was swatting at bugs. In the sixth game of the first set, Sharapova hit a running forehand for a winner (one of eight she had) and Williams was so surprised she reflexively applauded.
By the end of the afternoon, both No.1-seeded players were gone. Guillermo Cañas, a qualifier, sent the defending champion, Roger Federer, packing for the second consecutive tournament with a 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) victory. Cañas’s win came 16 days after he snapped Federer’s 41-match winning streak in a second-round match at the Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Calif. Federer, who had won both tournaments the previous two years, committed 51 unforced errors to Canas’s 15.
“You know, it happens,” Federer said. “I was really happy with my level of play. I thought it was a great match, so it was disappointing to lose.”
Williams was delighted to win as emphatically as she did. With every stroke, she seemed to be issuing a rebuttal to those who openly wondered if her 6-1, 6-2 victory against Sharapova in the Australian Open final had been a fluke.
“I think a lot of people might have thought it was a one-off,” Williams, who played in only four tournaments in 2006 because of injuries, said. “I don’t know anyone who’s won eight Grand Slams and had so many doubters in their lives. I guess just me.” She laughed ruefully. “It’s O.K.”
Williams can play the media as if they were another opponent, showing humility, hostility, humor, warmth, eloquence and indifference all in one 15-minute interview. The chip on her shoulder is not an affectation but another accessory, along with the heavy hoop earrings and gaudy gold jewelry and designer handbags, that she seldom leaves home without.
She uses every slight — real and perceived — to her advantage, channeling her feelings of hurt and rage into her tennis.
Williams’s sense of being a perpetual outsider despite everything she has achieved in tennis was driven home to her Monday afternoon in her match against Lucie Safarova when a heckler in the stands peppered his diatribe with a racially derogatory term.
The fan was escorted from the grounds, but not before everybody within earshot got a sense of how discomfiting it can be to walk in the sneakers of Williams, an eight-time Grand Slam champion. Her sense of alienation bubbled to the surface Tuesday when she was asked about a trip she took last year to Africa.
Williams, who was born in Michigan and raised in California and Florida, toured Senegal’s Goree Island on the west coast and visited impoverished villages in Ghana as part of a Unicef delegation.
“When we first landed, we had a layover in Nigeria, and I couldn’t wait,” Williams said. “I wanted to get out of the plane and just take off my shoes and start running and never come back because I just felt at home and at ease.
“I mean, I’ve never felt so comfortable physically and just like mentally,” she added. “I can’t even explain it. It’s like this whole aura that just surrounds you. That’s just how I felt. I’ve never been in a place where I felt happier ever.”
Williams’s voice, which had been a monotone when she was talking about tennis, grew more animated as she talked about opening a school in Senegal, on land donated by the president Abdoulaye Wade, whom she met.
“If I can provide one kid with hope,” Williams said, “even if it’s just one person, it makes a whole big difference in life.”
In the hallway outside the interview room, Williams’s father and coach, Richard, talked about how sad it was that his daughter should feel more at home abroad, but he said he was not surprised. “Americans here don’t think we are Americans,” he said.
“If we are Americans, we sure aren’t treated like it,” he added. “Rats, roaches, even rabbits are treated better than we are here.”
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Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4274
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 11:04 am: |
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This is a refreshing story. I think Serena's school will have a completely different atmosphere than Oprah's. It's as though she wants to do this because it's really in her heart. Not that Oprah doesn't do things from the heart, but whenever Oprah does anything it seems like a publicity stunt. I think that Serena really belongs to Africa, whereas Oprah seems to impose herself upon people.
Sad about the heckler. I had no idea that Serena still has to endure racial epithets. Makes me wonder if racism will ever be abolished. It's heartbreaking that she has to play her game under those types of adverse conditions, especially since tennis requires such a high degree of concentration.
BTW, Tiger Woods built his school way before Oprah, but sadly he doesn't get the recognition. I guess it's because his school is in Anaheim, not Africa.
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Moonsigns
Veteran Poster
Username: Moonsigns
Post Number: 1866
Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 12:04 pm: |
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Let this "trend" continue -it's incredibly positive! |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9080
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 12:09 pm: |
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Hey. There are NUTCASES all over the place. So you expect this kind of thing to happen now and then.
But what's SADDEST part about what happened was appears that it was only AFTER Serena herself got involved in expressing dismay over what dude was doing did the stadium officials handle the problem.
This thing should have been handled well BEFORE Serena even knew what was going down. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8093
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 01:32 pm: |
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So can I be looking forward to Nelson Mandela opening up a school for the deprived black kids who reside in the inner city of Chicago's southside?
Poor Serena. Maybe she'll ditch the blond extensions now. At least she didn't get stabbed like top-seeded Monica Seles did a few years back. Seles' career was zooming when a rabid fan of Stephie Graff's ended up stabbing Seles in the upper back because he thought Monica was going to usurp Stephie as number one. Poor Monica never rebounded from this set-back and never won another grand slam. |
Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 390
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 01:33 pm: |
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Mzuri-
Amen!
Abm-
I guess a certain amount of heckling is allowed at any sporting event. It was when the N bomb was thrown that Serena complained, and to their credit action was taken.
BTW, that was not the first time Serena was racially insulted. Racism is alive and well in sports and everywhere else. |
Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 391
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 01:37 pm: |
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Serena hasn't had blonde extensions for years.
I always thought she looked ridiculous playing those naturally blonde European girls, and there Serena was with some ratty blonde extensions.
For whatever reason she and her sister can't seem to get their hair hooked up. It always looks a mess. They need to talk to Lisa Leslie.
Her hair is always tight and she runs and jumps as much as the Williams sisters. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8095
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 01:43 pm: |
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Maybe she hasn't had platinum blond extensions in years. |
Enchanted
Veteran Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 755
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 02:00 pm: |
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Robynmaire give me five on Lisa Leslie! they shure would look better if copy her and Im proud of Serena opening school but anyone going to help American black kids for goodness? |
Enchanted
Veteran Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 756
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 02:02 pm: |
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I will say I told you before Ive been to Senegal and its heaven over there they L-O-V-E African Americans and Ive went twice its just too beautiful. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 5052
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 08:01 pm: |
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Just Beautiful, Inside & Out!!!!
Good!!!
For!!!!!!
Her!!!!!!!!!
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Latina_wi
Regular Poster
Username: Latina_wi
Post Number: 318
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 10:16 pm: |
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Wow I must admit she looks GOOD in those pics you got Tonya.
And good for her opening the school, she seems really at home in Africa. |
Yukio
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 2161
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 10:48 pm: |
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i wish she would do something w/her hair, though! Like a short natural or something.... |
Enchanted
Veteran Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 760
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 10:59 pm: |
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agreed Yukio |
Libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 747
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 04:19 pm: |
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Serena and the N word
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/11589469.html |
Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 393
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 11:26 pm: |
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Yes, Serena was heckled by some a**hole. Here is the YouTube clip. I love when she says "As an African American I am not going to stand for it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6TwAHLSK6U |
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