Serena Williams cries "discrimination" over drug testing

[panamaican]

I wonder about this too. This story has been simmering for a while and pops up here and there with no mention of race. I've been waiting for the racial angle but it hasn't come.

It hasn't come because it's just not there. Most tennis fans know that Serena has been targeted for her physique for years. The insinuations of drug enhancements aren't new. There's an entire history surrounding her and performance enhancement that isn't based on her race but on her overwhelming physicality compared to other female tennis players.

That's why a race read makes such little sense. If it was some other black tennis player who hasn't dealt the PED accusations, maybe that athlete might allege racism in response to significant testing. But Serena? In the tennis world where everyone has been trying to minimize her dominance by attaching it to cheating literally for decades at this point? You have to really stretch your imagination to think that her statement is about race and not her specific circumstances and alleged behavior from tennis fans and competitors.

 

[Madmick]

Most tennis fans know that Serena has been targeted for her physique for years.

Source?

 

[Fawlty]

It hasn't come because it's just not there. Most tennis fans know that Serena has been targeted for her physique for years. The insinuations of drug enhancements aren't new. There's an entire history surrounding her and performance enhancement that isn't based on her race but on her overwhelming physicality compared to other female tennis players.

That's why a race read makes such little sense. If it was some other black tennis player who hasn't dealt the PED accusations, maybe that athlete might allege racism in response to significant testing. But Serena? In the tennis world where everyone has been trying to minimize her dominance by attaching it to cheating literally for decades at this point? You have to really stretch your imagination to think that her statement is about race and not her specific circumstances and alleged behavior from tennis fans and competitors.

I'm on that side of the question generally, because this is an old story and it has never been about race, despite some people occasionally trying to make it about that.

What I think could complicate this is if she gets caught and then resorts to calling it racism (or if that becomes the dominant conversation and she goes with it). People who suspected she was implying racism by saying "discrimination?" would then declare that they were right all along when it could really just be a scoundrel's refuge, like Kevin Spacey announcing he was gay, or when somebody who screws up goes to rehab and blames drugs. That still wouldn't be correct. Unless it's made explicitly about race, then it's not about race. Ironically, it's playing identity politics to tie her race to only one interpretation of her comment.

 

[lifelessheap]

Source?

She doesn't just get a pass, she gets protected and praised in the media. She is the biggest PED fraud in the history of sports. And there is nothing but silence.

She has bigger arms and is more ripped then the top male tennis stars. And she has no testicles. I guess her ovaries produce test?

 

[Madmick]

She doesn't just get a pass, she gets protected and praised in the media. She is the biggest PED fraud in the history of sports. And there is nothing but silence.

She has bigger arms and is more ripped then the top male tennis stars. And she has no testicles. I guess her ovaries produce test?

Women do produce testosterone, just as we produce estrogen, and there is a wide variance in the spread between both genders, but yes, I get your point.

 

[Leagon]

Isn't the "fast twitch muscle" thing been proven as bro-science?

What I'm saying is Serena is most likely getting slammed with tests because she's been at the top so damn long.

As to muscle definition showing... if black clothing is considered slimming how would darker skin show more definition?

It's possible the fast twitch thing has been debunked. I was just saying what I learned. I'm no biologist/nutritionist, and I don't keep up with that stuff.

I'm not disagreeing that Serena gets tested a lot because she's at the top. She also gets tested a lot because of her physique. She has the sort of body that we all associate with steroid use.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

I can understand why Serena would be pissed because if she is indeed being tested more than other players then that means she's being targeted unfairly. At the same time she does indeed look like she's been doing PEDS.

 

[vengeful]

Why are they banned though?

I have no idea, but nobody would consider opioids and corticosteroids to be performance enhancing in any way.

 

[Madmick]

I have no idea, but nobody would consider opioids and corticosteroids to be performance enhancing in any way.

They absolutely would.

If you're training through an injury painkillers are a huge benefit. Anti-inflammatories are also incredible towards this end.

 

[vengeful]

Isn't the "fast twitch muscle" thing been proven as bro-science?

What I'm saying is Serena is most likely getting slammed with tests because she's been at the top so damn long.

As to muscle definition showing... if black clothing is considered slimming how would darker skin show more definition?

Lol look at Bodybuilders, they're all darker than me and I'm black.

 

[n...not crazy]

It hasn't come because it's just not there. Most tennis fans know that Serena has been targeted for her physique for years. The insinuations of drug enhancements aren't new. There's an entire history surrounding her and performance enhancement that isn't based on her race but on her overwhelming physicality compared to other female tennis players.

She's so much stronger than everyone else, it's ridiculous. It's made women's tennis boring, and for soooo long. Yes she's had a couple of times where her heart won the match. But for the most part it's just domination due in large part to being a big strong motherfucker. She has the mind of a bully because that's what she's used to, so when she actually loses a match she turns into a nutjob. Did you see her screaming and mean mugging in the wimbledon final? So fucking annoying. If a guy does that, there WILL be roid allegations. At least she was graceful afterwards though.

She has made me question what women's sports really are. What's the contest? In men's sports it is clear. But in women's sports, sometimes it's simply a contest to see who's the most manly. That's the metagame.

I don't really care why she's bigger, it's just annoying period.

 

[vengeful]

They absolutely would.

If you're training through an injury painkillers are a huge benefit. Anti-inflammatories are also incredible towards this end.

Substances that gets an injured person back to normal aren't performance enhancers, substances that get a person to exceed their normal abilities are.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

Any muscular tennis players are going to cop the suspicions, because traditionally it's been a heavily cardio oriented sport and the physiques of the athletes have reflected that.
I bet Sam Stosur gets her share of testing.

Spoiler

might need to test this beast with a dosimeter

 

[Deleted member 391673]

She's so much stronger than everyone else, it's ridiculous. It's made women's tennis boring, and for soooo long. Yes she's had a couple of times where her heart won the match. But for the most part it's just domination due in large part to being a big strong motherfucker. She has the mind of a bully because that's what she's used to, so when she actually loses a match she turns into a nutjob. Did you see her screaming and mean mugging in the wimbledon final? So fucking annoying. If a guy does that, there WILL be roid allegations. At least she was graceful afterwards though.

She has made me question what women's sports really are. What's the contest? In men's sports it is clear. But in women's sports, sometimes it's simply a contest to see who's the most manly. That's the metagame.

I don't really care why she's bigger, it's just annoying period.

watched the videos.

wow. that's a roid raging narcissistic delusional monster if i've ever seen one.

 

[panamaican]

She's so much stronger than everyone else, it's ridiculous. It's made women's tennis boring, and for soooo long. Yes she's had a couple of times where her heart won the match. But for the most part it's just domination due in large part to being a big strong motherfucker. She has the mind of a bully because that's what she's used to, so when she actually loses a match she turns into a nutjob. Did you see her screaming and mean mugging in the wimbledon final? So fucking annoying. If a guy does that, there WILL be roid allegations. At least she was graceful afterwards though.

She has made me question what women's sports really are. What's the contest? In men's sports it is clear. But in women's sports, sometimes it's simply a contest to see who's the most manly. That's the metagame.

I don't really care why she's bigger, it's just annoying period.

Oh, I don't care about the roid allegations, it comes with territory. If she fails a test, she'll have to deal with the consequences.

 

[KnightTemplar]

"#StayPositive"

Clear Freudian slip, she's definitely on the roids.

Well played, sir. Well played indeed.

 

[Fawlty]

She's so much stronger than everyone else, it's ridiculous. It's made women's tennis boring, and for soooo long. Yes she's had a couple of times where her heart won the match. But for the most part it's just domination due in large part to being a big strong motherfucker. She has the mind of a bully because that's what she's used to, so when she actually loses a match she turns into a nutjob. Did you see her screaming and mean mugging in the wimbledon final? So fucking annoying. If a guy does that, there WILL be roid allegations. At least she was graceful afterwards though.

She has made me question what women's sports really are. What's the contest? In men's sports it is clear. But in women's sports, sometimes it's simply a contest to see who's the most manly. That's the metagame.

I don't really care why she's bigger, it's just annoying period.

John McEnroe (and to a lesser extent, Jimmy Connors) was beloved for this kind of behavior.

meh.

 

[HereticBD]

Substances that gets an injured person back to normal aren't performance enhancers, substances that get a person to exceed their normal abilities are.

Yeah they are. They allow you to get back at it faster than the person who isn't using them. You have an edge over the competition if you're using banned substances to heal yourself faster. PED's aren't just relegated to magic pills that make you perform better at game time.

 

[Madmick]

Substances that gets an injured person back to normal aren't performance enhancers, substances that get a person to exceed their normal abilities are.

Training through injury is a huge part of the game at the professional level. If you can't train, you can't reach higher levels.

I'm sorry, but what you've forwarded here is tremendously ignorant.

 

[flashNsmash]

why don't they compare her testing history to sloane stephens'? surely sloane is subjected to the same racist regimen, right?

 

[salamander]

I'm on that side of the question generally, because this is an old story and it has never been about race, despite some people occasionally trying to make it about that.

What I think could complicate this is if she gets caught and then resorts to calling it racism (or if that becomes the dominant conversation and she goes with it). People who suspected she was implying racism by saying "discrimination?" would then declare that they were right all along when it could really just be a scoundrel's refuge, like Kevin Spacey announcing he was gay, or when somebody who screws up goes to rehab and blames drugs. That still wouldn't be correct. Unless it's made explicitly about race, then it's not about race. Ironically, it's playing identity politics to tie her race to only one interpretation of her comment.

The triumphalism in the OP is pretty ham-fisted and paternalistic, paticularly since TS has made a series of recent appeals against this very same type of predatory morality he so despises in people like Mike Cernovitch who uses smashmouth activism towards their own cynical ends.