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Serena Williams is a lesson in the varieties of strength. There is an absolute force, an explosive force, a sustained force. All that she has, to one extent or another. And then there's the out-of-class force that it took to return to the top of his profession at age 36 with a baby on his shoulder, and scars on his belly and lungs from the test of his life. Delivery who almost killed her.
Nothing against Angelique Kerber, who is a great champion, but Kerber just played an opponent in the Wimbledon final. Williams was playing against many of them, including time and nature. In the end, time and nature have won, but Williams has not run for their money?
In addition to cesarean section, blood clots and baby's weight, there was a torn pectoral muscle that meant she could not serve for three weeks. Something was missing at this service, a lack of heat. The feet were a little slow, which made the ball tick on the net or just past the baseline. Result: 6-3, 6-3. Subsequently, her voice broke when she said, "For all the moms, I was playing for you today, and I tried it."
[Match report from Wimbeldon: Kerber upsets Williams for title]
It was only his fourth return tournament. There has not even been a complete change of seasons since the baby, Alexis Olympia, was born in September, followed by weeks of medical complications, to which she was surprisingly defenseless despite all her wealth and victory. By dealing with them Williams has demonstrated a kind of more common strength, which does not make its world class but rather shared by countless women.
This is a brand shared especially by black women in America, who are three to four times more likely to suffer life-threatening birth complications than whites, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A speculative reason for this is what is called allostasis, which is the body's response to stressors and long-lasting challenges. Another is that "the doctors are not listening to us, just to be quite frank," Williams said in an interview with the BBC this spring.
In recent years, Williams has taken a slow march towards becoming a powerful social messenger and influencer at the level of a Billie Jean King, addressing issues ranging from the gender pay gap to the 39, body image through sexism in Silicon Valley. There was a time when Williams was a facetious interview. Not anymore. At a pre-tournament conference podium she pondered myths about breastfeeding. "I have the impression that everyone says," You are so thin when you are breastfeeding "I will be totally frank," she says.
Behind the scenes, a woman interrupted and said, "It's a lie. 19659008] "is not it?" Williams said. "Thank you."
In an interview with Vogue, she spoke clearly about her post-birth complications – pulmonary embolism, rupture of her wound in C, and a large hematoma in her abdomen that left her bedridden for six weeks. – And the emotional outbreaks of the new motherhood trying to recover his body after all the trauma.
"No one speaks of the low moments – the pressure you feel, the incredible disappointment every time you hear the baby crying"
As it was easier, she said with amused sadness, that Roger Federer is coming back after the birth of his two twins
"He produced four babies and barely missed a tournament," she said. . "I can not even imagine where I would be with twins right now, probably at the bottom of the pool."
In every interview and appearance, she never let anyone forget about statistics and disparities, and the rejection that black women can face when they complain of pain even in a state of the art hospital with the best doctors and medications. She spoke of women giving birth in countries where they do not have access to medical care and advocated for contributions to UNICEF.
"I was in a really happy situation where I knew my body well and I am who I am," she says. "… I had a wonderful, wonderful doctor.Unfortunately, many African-Americans and Blacks do not have the same experience as me."
Shannon Sullivan, a Chair of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, argued that racial disparities can manifest themselves physiologically, even cellularly, wrote: "Our cells – our bodies – are dynamically co-constituted by things at the same time. inside and outside of us. "Does this contribute to hypertension and preeclampsia? die of heart disease, 71% more likely to die from cervical cancer and a staggering 243% more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth? I'm not smart enough to know it
But I know that this spring, as Serena Williams was recovering, another great and less well-known athlete, Daedra Charles, was complaining about not feeling well
won the Wade Trophy in 1992, awarded to the country's best university basketball player, and an Olympian. She worked as an assistant assistant in Auburn and Tennessee, but after a breast cancer crisis, she struggled to find a job in a coaching profession that is not generous to women. black women. She returned to Detroit to work as a youth counselor while putting her son Anthonee to college. In April, she went to a hospital complaining of a terrible tiredness. They told him that it was only dehydration, gave him liquids, sent him home. Two days later, she collapsed with heart failure. She was buried at the age of 49, breaking the hearts of all who knew her.
Each time, Serena Williams refused to let her new motherhood tell a heroic athletic story. a vital pivot for other women. What, physiologically, is doing years of internal pressure and emotional abrasions for struggling pregnant women? As for Williams herself, what brought her to fight against Compton, her mother, and her mother Oracene, and what was the balance sheet of the long duel with the fresh suspicion of l & rsquo; Tennis establishment, which persists to this day (she was tested five times in June)? It's hard to say.
What is certain is that Williams has triumphed over all to be about to match Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam titles, and with her health restored she has a lot chances to become the biggest champion already. But even more interesting, it has already become an important and transformational element.
For more information by Sally Jenkins, visit washingtonpost.com/jenkins.
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