CHAUNTE’L POWELL: French Open shows good, bad and ugly sides of women’s tennis

So far, the women’s side of the French Open has shown us what’s great about tennis.

For a few brief matches, we saw why Serena Williams is pretty much the best to ever do it. We’ve seen the continued development of young, up-and-coming talent in Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys and now Simona Halep. We saw an exciting upset by Gabrine Muguruza over Maria Sharapova.

We’ve also seen the ugly side of the sport rear its head once again, specifically when it comes to Williams.

Many were looking forward to the latest battle between Williams and Sharapova, I say battle because a 19-2 advantage for Williams in matches hardly constitutes a rivalry, but it never came to pass as Williams suffered an untimely pectoral injury that forced her to bow out.

What was troublesome to me where the mind blowingly dumb questions Williams had to deal with leading up to the match, which has been a consistent theme for her and her sister Venus throughout their careers.

The one that stuck out the most was from Inside Tennis reporter Bill Simmons, who said he spoke with Donald Trump and found out that he found Sharapova’s shoulders to be alluring. Simmons then proceeds to assert that Trump believes Williams is intimidated by Sharapova’s “supermodel good looks” and ask if there’s any credence to this.

WHAT???

Aside from the fact that Simmons said he had been waiting 14 years to ask Williams that asinine question, I could not believe a reporter at the highest level of the sport had the gall to ask that as though it was a pertinent question.

Just for context, would anybody ever ask Roger Federer if he was intimidated by Rafael Nadal after he was voted “Sexiest Tennis Player Alive” by Glamour Magazine? Would Novak Djokivic receive a detailed account of a female dignitary ogling his opponent? I’m willing to bet money that the reporter who dared utter such nonsense to either of them would be laughed out of the room before being allowed to finish the statement.

It doesn’t help that Sharapova published a book, ironically titled “Unstoppable” in which she makes similar claims of Williams’ jealousy about her physique despite her dominance of her on the court. But to bring petty and sexist elements like that into the press conference shows women’s tennis still has a long way to go in its treatment of athletes, particularly African-American players.

Serena and Venus’ relationship with the media has been a rocky one at best. The history of their treatment at Indian Wells has been well documented. There the duo faced an onslaught of questions about whether or not their father, Richard, decides who will win the matches between the two of them and other accusations of fixing, based on the snide remarks from a defeated opponent. They received no backing from the WTA Tour.

Venus and Serena won’t be playing forever, and as a look to the future of Stephens, Keys, Halep and other rising stars, I wonder if the sport will ever truly appreciate them. After all, look how they treat their legends.

Contact Chaunte’l Powell at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @chauntelpowell.