What happened to Serena?

In what most people thought was a shocking upset, Jill Craybas, the 85th ranked player in the world, defeated Serena Williams in straight sets yesterday at Wimbledon. It is easy to jump to conclusions about what happened; here are the facts as we know them:

• Serena almost didn't make the trip to England because of a hairline fracture in her ankle and a subsequent lack of grass court preparation.

• Her father said she became ill on Friday night. He also said he didn't think she should have entered the tournament, what with the fracture and her lack of play (she had to withdraw from the French Open).
  

• Serena has not appeared to be in very good shape lately, and has been making more unforced errors than usual. During the match, she was struggling to get her breath.
  

• She and her sister Venus have been shooting a reality TV show, and Serena has been involved in fashion designing.

• Jill Craybas, one of the few players on the tour to come out of the college champtionships, has spent the last several months getting more fit and working on the mental part of her game. Deciding to bring her game up a level at age 30 is unusual, but that's what she did.
  

In other words, there was an accident waiting to happen. Craybas, in a stunning example of mental toughness, won a second set tiebreak against Williams and saved herself the agony of going to a third set, when she might have choked or Serena might have pulled one of the hundred rabbits she has been known to yank from her magic hat when she is down in a match. It was a wonderful win for Craybas, and a bitter loss for Williams, who was tearful throughout her post-match press conference.

Enter the public. A trip around the message boards reveals many theories circulating about why Serena lost, and most of them are not very nice. Some idiot on the BBC actually intimated the match was fixed so that Serena wouldn't have to play Venus in the round of 16. A related theory is that it was decided that Venus had a better chance against getting to the final and beating Maria Sharapova.

First of all, it is horrifying to suggest that the Williams sisters are dishonest when they have never done a thing to indicate they are anything but straight down the line in every aspect of their lives. Also, if Serena didn't want to play Venus or thought she shouldn't play Venus, she could have just not shown up at all. Surely she wasn't desperate to get the points she earned for making it to the third round.

A second theory is that Serena is on steroids and her body is finally deteriorating from use. That is also deeply insulting, and doesn't take into account the fact that every time Serena turns around, someone hands her a cup to pee in.

Theory number three is that Serena wasn't sick and her fracture wasn't that bad, but her father figured she would lose so he bought her some insurance by saying she was ill and in a lot of pain (Serena said nothing of pain in her pre-match interviews). People tend not to like Richard Williams--he can be a bit of an ass--but he has never given any indication of being dishonest. In fact, his problems arise from his unedited honesty.

A more reasonable theory is that Serena is out of shape from a combination of injuries (which, of course, can also be caused by being out of shape) and dividing her attention among too many projects. She is going to have to decide what to do about her tennis career. Many have suggested she get a coach other than her parents, and now might be a good time to listen to that suggestion.

The Williams sisters tend to attract either extremely loyal fans or people who love to trash them. They are very talented, outspoken, and sometimes appear to have inflated views of their own abilities. It should be noted that there is nothing a Williams sister has ever said that, if said by a man, would be considered anything but "cool." They do not conduct their lives in a "feminine" manner, but do and say what they please when they please, and much of it is highly entertaining. It is often assumed that Williams-hating has to do with racism, and I'm sure some it does, but I think it has just as much--if not more--to do with sexism.

The fact of the matter is, Venus and Serena are excellent role models for girls (not that it is their job to be so), and they have done a lot for women in sports, and especially for African American women and girls in sports. Tennis is like any other part of American culture; people like to kick you when you're down, and both sisters have been down lately. But their "down" is still better than most other players' best performances.

I will concede that I, too, get tired of the sisters--especially Serena--not giving credit to their opponents. Of her loss to Craybas, Serena said: "She didn't have to do anything exceptionally well today. She just pretty much had to show up." That is a typical Williams sister press conference comment. After her defeat at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Venus said of Tatiana Golovin: "I don't think she came out there and beat me. I just kept making error after error...I just think I'm having a mental letdown from all the tennis I've been playing in the last four weeks, and I just felt pretty dead." Well, I was there, and Golovin quite clearly beat her.

So the Williams sisters aren't perfect. But they surely don't deserve the kind of verbal thrashing that they get every time one of them loses. Their games are off, yes, and that is upsetting to their fans. But they are still people, and--as far as I can tell--exceptional people.