Venus and Serena Williams as well as Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens are are some of the players who have the privilege of making up the 11-player Team USA tennis group. Serena shared her excitement on being apart of a team where it will be the first time four African American women competing to represent USA:
Well with the recent racial tensions brewing in America it isn’t surprising that some of the players were asked about Black Lives Matter during a press conference.
Apparently the reporter had mistakenly assumed that only three of the four previously mentioned players were black and only directed the question to them. The reporter had asked if due to the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the US, did they feel as if they are “playing for something bigger than Team USA” or “representing something more important.”
There was a long pause before Venus, perhaps sarcastically, inquired whether or not the question was only for the Black athletes and if Madison Keys, who has a Black father, would like to be apart of the conversation. Venus then asked the reporter to repeat the question because she said didn’t understand it. Once the reporter repeated herself, Venus came back with the most appropriate response:
“USA Tennis is here to hopefully medal, and who knows, maybe we could take more than one medal home. So I think that’s what we’re focused on right now. We can’t focus on anything, any movement – especially anything happening in the States,” she said. “Right now we’re focused on the world community, and how we can build that positivity. So if that includes building positivity in the States, we’re all for it.”
Bloop!
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Source: https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/a-question-out-of-left-field–as-venus-williams-takes-over-as-an-eloquent-spokesperson-for-the-us-tennis-team-225509808.html
