Tag Archives: Wimbledon

Serena Williams Reciting ‘Still I Rise’ Is All You Need Today (Video)

After winning her 22nd Grand Slam over the weekend at Wimbledon, Serena Williams solidified her place in history. Not only is she the greatest female athlete of our time, the 34-year-old might just be the best athlete – male or female – of this generation.

Yet, despite her continuingly dominating tennis and rack up championships, she still has her critics.

Williams’ celebrity hasn’t protected her from the viciousness of racism. Each time she adds another trophy to her collection, a loud chorus rises up to not only question her skills, instead pinning her win on pure athleticism alone, but also her femininity.

Still, she excels. So it’s only fitting BBC Sports would ask the champion to read Maya Angelou’s powerful poem, Still I Rise, to narrate her latest grand slam win.

In the two-minute epic tribute, Williams recites an abridged version of the poem.

In her post-match interviews, Williams said,

I didn’t come from any money or anything, but I did have a dream and I did have hope. That’s really all you need.”

A fitting way to honour Williams’ 22nd Grand Slam title — in addition to her general awesomeness, we presume.

Amélie Mauresmo Faces a Wave of Homophobic Comment After Announcing She is Expecting Her First Child

Yesterday, former Wimbledon and Australian Open tennis champion Amélie Mauresmo has announced that she is expecting her first child on Twitter. The 35-year-old, who revealed she was gay in 1999, is now coach of World No 3. Andy Murray and captain of the French Fed Cup team.

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But sadly her announcement has been hit by a wave of homophobic comments on twitter – “My kid has a chance to live with his father and his mother, not like that Mauresmo born from donated sperm”, “Who is the father bestiality,” “Oh Mauresmo is pregnant, I thought it was her father “…

Mauresmo has unfortunately already experienced this situation when she first came out , posing with his girlfriend at the time Sylvie Bourdon, in a Paris Match.

Then she faced comments from the the public, media and fellow competitors, including Martina Hingis, who had said: “She lives with a girl so is half a man.”

Mauresmo due to give birth in August.

Also read: Andy Murray Hires Amélie Mauresmo as His New Coach

Andy Murray spoke warmly of Mauresmo’s influence after reaching the Australian Open final earlier this year where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

I’m very thankful for Amelie for doing it (agreeing to coach me). It was, I would say, a brave choice for her to do it and hopefully I can repay her. A lot of people criticised me for working with her … women can be very good coaches as well.”