(ThySistas.com) The U.S. Open is underway today and the one to watch and the one to beat is none other than women’s world number one tennis player Serena Williams. If Serena wins it all at the Open in Flushing this week then she will become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to complete the calendar year Grand Slam. Serena already has her second so-called Serena Slam, adding the calendar year grand slam would be icing on a very deserving cake. So why do headlines on some top media outlets seem to be rooting for Serena to lose, or at the very least negating that she is the greatest to ever do it in the world of women’s tennis?
CNN proclaims: U.S. Open 2015: Beating Serena at a grand slam? Yes, it’s possible
FiveThirtyEight Sports: Serena Williams and The Difference Between All-Time Great And Greatest Of All Time
Other headlines focus on the game:
SB Nation: 15 reasons Serena Williams is the greatest
Los Angeles Times: Tennis’ U.S. Open to be played on Serena (Williams) Time and ESPN’s dime
The Guardian: Serena Williams is the best because of her brains – not just her body
Only one headline attempted to hit the nail on the head with why Serena Williams is loved by some and loathed by others.
Quartz: Only sexism and racism can explain why Serena Williams doesn’t earn more in endorsements
Every time Serena plays Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social sites where trolls like to gather and blow up with comments on how she’s playing the game: her aggression, her jubilation at winning, the verbal expression of her frustration, her happy dance. If a commenter’s vitriol is not aimed at how Serena Williams is 
playing the game then it’s focused on how she looks while playing the game. She is criticized for being built supposedly like a man, for being unnaturally strong, for being unfeminine, for being too big for the sport. But it is all of these characteristics that make Serena the greatest at what she does.
It is her strength and her power and her passion that have allowed her to keep her career going for the last 17 years and remain on top. But no matter how Serena Williams plays the game, no matter how many times she wins, no matter how gracious she answers pre and post-interview questions she remains the underdog in that she is constantly doubted and constantly rooted against in a sport where if it were any other race of American woman doing what Serena is doing that woman would be hailed a hero and have parades thrown in her honor.
No one says Lebron James is too aggressive, or too strong, or too fast when he takes the court for the Cleveland Cavaliers, because those are all the things he is supposed to be as he tries to bring his Cavs a championship. But Serena Williams has brought the entire country championships from all over the globe for nearly two decades and the critiques and diatribes against her only get longer and longer for reasons she can’t help.
It is her phenotype that makes her amazing to watch both on and off the court. She is a presence and a force to be reckoned with whether she’s wearing a tennis skirt and slamming serves, or stepping out in a pair of heels and serving face. Serena is a beautiful black woman, built with enough boobs and booty to spare, muscle definition for days, and strong and flexible enough to dominate her sport for as long as she remains healthy. She is an inspiration where some in the mainstream media see a monster. She is an ideal where others see an anomaly. With today’s start of the U.S. open she should be celebrated instead of degraded.
Serena’s first game is at 7 tonight. Let’s all watch and celebrate her together.
Staff Writer; Nikesha Elise Williams
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