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Sadly, I just watched Sam Stosur lose in the semifinals of Roland Garros to Sara Errani. Errani played very well and I kind of like her style. I hadn't paid too much attention to her prior to this run at the French. But I liked her glasses and bandana look from the quarters the other day. She looked tough. Stosur always looks tough because the woman is ripped. But she is not a man.

In case you were wondering.

Dominika Cibulkova, Stosur's opponent from the quarters seemed to be wondering that after being defeated by Stosur fairly handily. I actually didn't hear the post-match comments or the comments on the post-match comments. Thankfully I have friends who keep me informed while I sit in the library endlessly coding data.

This is nothing new, of course. Just a different set of characters. Cibulkova who could not handle Stosur's heavy topspin serve and was put on the defensive by Stosur's amazing forehand, thought this meant that Stosur was man-like in her style.

One, it's just pouting. I can't possibly beat a man; no one would expect me to beat a man and this person was playing like a man--so there. It wasn't me. There was nothing I could possibly do.

It did indeed appear there was nothing Cibulkova could do. But it wasn't because suddenly Stosur transformed her game and made it more masculine. It was because Stosur's style is particularly effective against opponents who are short--like Cibulkova. Heavy kick serves mean shorter players are having to hit returns way out of their comfort zones. It is clear that Cibulkova has amazing core strength (something that used to be the domain of male athletes--just sayin') but not enough to overcome solid play by Stosur. And it's not as if Stosur is invincible. Others can beat her. Sara Errani for example. Does that make Errani a man? And I would imagine that Cibulkova has beat players herself who have beaten Stosur. What does that say about Cibulkova?

What she's really saying is "she's a dyke." And because Stosur does not compensate/apologize enough for not being uberfeminine, Cibulkova attacks her. Stosur isn't going to pose naked in a racquet ad. She isn't going to glam it up for lots of photo shoots.
Butterflies would never fly around a naked man.It's pretty common knowledge that Stosur is gay. But she is not out the way Mauresmo was out. I think if she was, people like Cibulkova would not be able to get away with such comments. The mainstream media made no comments on this--at least not that I have seen. I can't imagine Chrissy Evert touching this with a ten-foot pole during her match commentary. They just let it go.

And Stosur lets it go too. Because it's not her identity or it's not her fight or she's not political.

I guess in tennis when the ball comes into your court--you hit it out of there, fast.

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Resident_Badass says:

"Butterflies would never fly around a naked man" - made me laugh out loud. Thank you for adding the Dunlop add. I had completely forgotten about that. Well said. Just to touch on your Evert comment, I wrote my post yesterday ("She played like a man" isn't a compliment") specifically as a reaction to Chris Evert saying that "a few years ago this would have been a big controversy but now it's just a compliment." So not only do they let it go, she's giving Cibulkova a pat on the back?!?! I too wish that Sam would have said something but as one of the shyest players on tour she understandably is going to keep her mouth shut.

Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 10:29pm EDT

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