tennis
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Wimbledon Upsets: Naomi Osaka Out in 1st Round; Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff Bests Venus Williams
#BlackGirlMagic was on display at Wimbledon Monday, whether in feeling the pain of defeat or in tasting sweet victory, as second-seeded Naomi Osaka got ousted in the first round, while Cori “Coco” Gauff bested tennis legend Venus Williams. Osaka, the first player in over 10 years to win her first two Grand Slams back-to-back, loss…
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Breakfast of Champions: Serena Williams Scores Her 1st Wheaties Box!
It’s the most important meal of the day, and she’s known as the greatest female tennis player to play the game, so how is it possible we’re just now celebrating Serena Williams getting her own Wheaties box? As it turns out, Williams is only the second black female tennis player to grace a box of…
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Tennis Great Arthur Ashe Honored With Street Naming Ceremony in Virginia
In 1968, a year fraught with violent civil rights protests and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., tennis legend Arthur Ashe became the first black male athlete to win the U.S. Open. But beyond his groundbreaking accomplishments on the tennis court, Ashe’s tireless activism off of it is equally commendable. And to celebrate his…
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Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka Eliminated from French Open
Add Serena Williams to a growing list of recognizable names to see an early exit from this year’s French Open. With the temperature topping 80 degrees in Paris, Williams, ranked 10th in the world, and rounding into form after an injury from earlier in the year, became the latest highly decorated player to flame out…
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Touché: A Year After 'Catsuit-Gate,' Serena Williams Returns to the French Open in Winning Fashion
Sometimes, you just gotta let ‘em know who they’re dealing with. In the case of tennis legend Serena Williams, she let her clothing do the talking for her, as she made her return to the French Open wearing a black-and-white striped Off-White x Nike trapeze warmup jacket with an allover print of the French words…
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Grand Slam: Naomi Osaka Is the Newest Sports Star to Sign with Nike
She was spotted wearing Adidas on the court as recently as March 22, but it’s official: women’s tennis Grand Slam tournament winner Naomi Osaka will be Nike’s next sports star. The tennis champion and athletic giant announced an endorsement deal late Thursday. The move came as a surprise to many sports and business insiders, as…
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Black Twitter Showers Naomi Osaka with Praise After Winning the Australian Open
Naomi Osaka is really fucking good at tennis. How good? This good. And in order to achieve her latest victory, Naomi Osaka tapped into her melanin magic and came from behind against Petra Kvitová in order to extend the match to a third set and claim her second consecutive Grand Slam. So guess who’s ranked…
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Tennis Is a White Man's Sport. Here's Why.
Tennis is a white man’s sport. Serena Williams’ loss at the the U.S. Open, and her subsequent fine of $17,000 —$10,000 for verbal abuse, which was the largest individual fine the US Open has ever seen—proves it. The fact that the athlete’s catsuit was banned from the French Open proves it. That Williams has won…
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Competition, Compassion and the Stories We Don't Hear About Black Women Athletes
By now, many of us know the story of what happened at the Women’s U.S. Open finals on Saturday. During the match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, in which Osaka was ahead, Chair umpire Carlos Ramos pushed Williams towards the breaking point, personally and with regard to the match, with a series of mystifying…
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Sisters in Style: In Tennis and Fashion, It Runs in the Family for the Williams Sisters
As the Williams sisters prepared to face off at the US Open on Sept. 1, there was much speculation over whether Serena or Venus—seeded 16th and 17th respectively (prior to the match), would take home the win. (It was baby sis Serena this round, proving that motherhood hasn’t slowed her down, after all.) But in…