The Serena Williams Controversy and the Elephant in the Room…Race

In the aftermath of Serena Williams' unceremonious exit from the US Open in the semifinals against Kim Clijsters, the major media including CBS and ESPN have stayed away from the issue of race.  However, based on many of the comments being posted on various websites regarding Serena’s reaction to a questionable foot fault call when the outcome of the match was still in doubt, I would say race is very much an underlying issue in analyzing the media reaction to the unfortunate ending that occurred. For those who say it is too easy to inject race into the topic…well…it is also just as easy to avoid the topic especially when it does not involve something obvious such as the use of a slur.  Thus, the Grand Slam committee and International Tennis Federation should not be narrow-minded when they review the matter to determine what penalties Serena will have to suffer for her actions last night. First, the rise of Serena and Venus to professional stardom wa...