Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are considered to be three of the greatest male players in the open era. Their record speaks for itself. Federer was 22 when he won his first grand slam, Djokovic 21, and Nadal 19. As a result, barring a few Grand Slams and Olympic Games, each big tennis final has one of these three players in it, even today.
When you look at the women’s tennis game, however, barring Serena Williams, who dominated the sport for nearly two decades, most of the women players have had healthy competition between them to be the second best.
And then you look at the ages. Serena won her first major Grand Slam when she was 18, Maria Sharapova was 17, and Martina Hingis was 16.
Given these contrasting age gaps, one would obviously ask: do professional sportswomen peak earlier than men, and retire early?
If you look at the numbers above, that may seem the case.
However, it is not.
Sports scientist Shyamal Vallabhjee tells The Free Press Journal that most of the athletes be it in cricket, tennis and football play game rather than sport. “Physiology may play a role in your success in a game of tennis or cricket and a 15-year-old Coco Gauff may beat Venus Williams, but in sports it’s a whole new ball game,” he explains.
When we asked the difference between a game and sport, Vallabhjee says that in a game that can be competitive, physiology becomes an important factor. However, he says, in a sport like marathon running, there arises a need to practice continuously to get your body tuned. “In case of people participating in triathlons, it’s going to be difficult for them to complete such an event at such a young age. They need to attune their bodies – irrespective of gender to run such long distances, and this ability develops over time.”
The gender problem
While Vallabhjee’s explanation makes perfect sense in the scheme of things, general perception of successful women athletes still leaves a poor taste in the mouth. When Serena Williams was consistently winning, there were plenty of snide remarks about her physique.
According to this piece, for as long as she has been in the public eye, Serena has worked hard to assert her femininity. In 2015, Harry Potter author JK Rowling slammed a man who called Serena Williams was ‘built like a man’ following her sixth Wimbledon win.
Incidentally, one never hears complaints about a Michael Phelps' or Usain Bolt's physique or the genetic advantage they have over their competitors.
Close to home, West Bengal athlete Pinki Pramanik was accused by a neighbour of being a man and was arrested for alleged rape.
In multiple interviews, Pinki said, “To be accused of being male and raping her shocked me. I am not male. I have always been female. I look more male now because, as part of my training to compete in international athletics, I used to be regularly administered testosterone injections like other female participants. I was told that it was necessary to take these, and I never questioned whether these were legal or not. I was focused on winning and did whatever I was asked to do by my trainers, who knew what was best for me. But after that, my voice became deeper and I grew more body hair."
While India has become more sensitive to cases like the Pinki Pramanik one, there is still loads of work to be done both here and internationally, and cases such as the one that involve tennis ace Sania Mirza and journalist Rajdeep Sardesai are examples of how far we are behind.
A few years ago, Sardesai was criticised when he asked Sania when she was going to settle down? “Is it going to be in Dubai? Is it going to be in any other country? What about motherhood... building a family... I don’t see all that in the book, it seems like you don’t want to retire just yet to settle down...” While Sania smiled and answered, she hit out at Sardesai, saying that he sounded disappointed that she wasn't choosing motherhood over being number 1. "But I’ll answer your question anyway, that’s the question I face all the time as a woman, that all women have to face – the first is marriage and then it’s motherhood.”
Sardesai, realising his error, repeatedly apologised on the show, saying that he had framed the question poorly.
Where does the problem start?
Mitali Parekh, who has been a woman for four decades, says, “Women are celebrated when they are successful at things defined as feminine -- the arts, creative endeavours, beauty contests, etc. Sports, with its drive, aggression and skill, is seen as masculine. When we see things only through this binary (lens), a woman doing well at sports, does not fit into the definition of femininity and some grapple to comprehend this as it is not neatly packaged in a box.”
Parekh adds that the change needs to come from the top. “Starting from equal pay, people should be comfortable giving anyone a job, irrespective of gender,” she adds.
However, Parekh is hopeful that there will be change. “I have faith in the current wave of consciousness -- women no longer see it their duty to educate the system about equal rights. The onus is on others -- if they want to see their businesses grow, if they need to seem modern, if they don't want to be shamed, if they'd like to have their institutions recognised, they must get with the programme or get left behind and bear the consequences.”
