Serena Williams penned a passionate essay regarding her run-in with an umpire during 2018’s US Open.
However, the timing of the essay’s posting had many confused, and her Instagram was flooded with comments questioning how she was posting at all.
Serena shared a passionate essay after a tumultuous year.
As one of the most decorated athletes of all time, Serena has made a huge impact on the world of not only tennis, but sports in general.
She sat down and wrote a personal essay for Harper’s Bazaar about the incident occurred last year.
Serena summed up what happened:
After being accused of looking at her coach and given a violation, Serena was frustrated.
“I walk back to the court and lose the next point. I smash my racket in frustration; he issues another violation and gives a point to my opponent.”
The umpire then went after her again.
She wrote, “I feel passionately compelled to stand up for myself. I call him a thief; I again demand an apology.
I tell him he is penalizing me for being a woman. He responds by issuing a third violation and takes a game from me.”
The incident haunted her.
“Why can’t I express my frustrations like everyone else? If I were a man, would I be in this situation? What makes me so different? Is it because I’m a woman?”
Many agreed with her.
For many women, those questions are familiar ones.
The question of whether the violation was warranted is one for the pros.
But for the rest of us, who have seen men like Andy Roddick famously throw temper tantrums on the tennis court, we know what the real issue is.
Serena wrote her opponent, Naomi Osaka.
She apologized for what she believed was her taking that moment from Naomi.
In response, Naomi said, “People can misunderstand anger for strength because they can’t differentiate between the two.
No one has stood up for themselves the way you have and you need to continue trailblazing.”
We stan these women for life.
She posted the link to her story on Instagram.
Naturally, rather than focus on the powerful words that she sat down to write, people were distracted by a simple timing discrepancy:
How on Earth was Serena posting that essay at all?
Confusion was pretty high.
See, Serena was playing at Wimbledon at that exact moment.
Many of her fans were watching the match and checking their phones at the same time, and were pretty confused at her post.
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This is a big oops moment.
Seriously, there’s comments like this all over the post.
For those who aren’t as social media savvy, or aren’t used to the inner workings of social media management, it kinda makes sense to be confused.
Some people called out her social media manager.
See, a lot of celebrities (and even social media influencers) use someone else to post for them.
I’m not saying they all do it, or that it’s all the time! But when you’re low on time to post, it helps to have a social media manager.
And then people started having fun with it.
Hell yeah, Serena serves on and off the court.
Oh, for those who don’t know, “GOAT” stands for “greatest of all time.” I’m sorry I had to explain that, but some people may not know, okay?
Yes god!
We stan a queen who holds her racket with one hand and updates Instagram with the other.
Live-tweeting is out. Instagramming while playing a sport in front of millions of people is so in .
Is this the plot of the movie “Inception”?
Okay, so who is Serena’s running mate? Venus? Yeah, that feels right.
Vote Williams 2020, for a future with more tennis, and respect for black women. That’s a dream we can all get behind.
However, some people finally noticed the essay!
One of the other standout parts of her collaboration with Harper’s Bazaar ?
All the photography for it is unretouched. No photoshopping, no smoothing, no fixing up “flaws.” Serena is presented as she was on the day she was photographed.
And others appreciated her words, too!
Whether they were touched by what she said, or inspired by her actions, many people were appreciative of her essay, especially from the prospective of a black woman.
Queen Serena forever.
