It seems as if Jason Whitlock’s vendetta against Serena Williams is rearing its ugly head again. As the sisters meet in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon on Monday, Whitlock decided to raise the issue on Friday’s Pardon the Interruption that their father, Richard will determine the outcome of the match with Serena winning easily. In fact, he used the word “cakewalk.” You can watch Whitlock’s silly comments below:
Now, let’s do some fact checking before we delve into Whitlock’s comments. First, the Williams sisters last faced each other in the semifinals of last year’s Rogers Cup in Montreal which Venus won in three sets breaking a Serena five match-winning streak. The two hadn’t squared off at Wimbledon since the 2009 final which Serena won in two sets.
Their overall record is 14-11 in favor of Serena and people in tennis circles know full well that Richard hasn’t coached the sisters in several years. In fact, Richard is not at Wimbledon now and has sparingly attended a Williams sisters match over the last decade. If Whitlock bothered to watch either one of Serena’s or Venus’ Wimbledon matches last week, he would have noticed their mother Oracene in the player’s box with Richard nowhere in sight.
But that didn’t stop Whitlock from making that ignorant statement on Friday. His history with Serena goes back to 2009 when he wrote a column for Fox accusing her of underachieving and being overweight. As Deadspin chronicled at the time, Whitlock chose to go personal on Williams:
• “She’d rather eat, half-ass her way through non-major tournaments and complain she’s not getting the respect her 11-major-championships résumé demands…[S]eriously, how else can Serena fill out her size 16 shorts without grazing at her stall between matches?”
• “And you probably think I don’t like Serena. You’re wrong. I love her. She’s the main reason I watch tennis. She’s fascinating. Her power and skill are breathtaking. And when she’s in shape, she’s every bit as sexy as Beyonce.”
• “During this year’s Wimbledon, Serena and Safina played Court 2 while hot, lesser stars battled on Centre Court. Safina can blame genetics for her fate. Serena only has herself to blame. God gave Serena everything, including drop-dead looks…She’s chosen to smother some of it in an unsightly layer of thick, muscled blubber, a byproduct of her unwillingness to commit to a training regimen and diet that would have her at the top of her game year-round. “
• “Right now I’d put on Serena on par with Paris Hilton. I know that’s harsh. Serena’s accomplishments are far more substantive than Hilton’s. But Paris Hilton doesn’t have one discernible skill (that I can publish in this column without earning it an R rating). Hilton’s monumental overachievement is her accomplishment of becoming a celebrity.”
Of course, Serena’s accomplishments in the Grand Slams speak for themselves, but that didn’t stop Whitlock from going after her in the 2012 Olympics for doing the Crip Walk at Wimbledon which served as the tennis venue.
And his most recent comments about Richard Williams controlling his daughters’ matches once again show how out of touch Whitlock is about tennis and diminishes the fact that Serena and Venus have had accomplished careers both when their father was their coach and especially afterwards. Even if Whitlock was joking and it doesn’t appears that he was, it shows that he still likes to throw things at the wall to see if they stick.
