Soapbox

All views expressed are those of the writer. If you would like to comment, please email me at girlsinsport@hotmail.com

February 2001 - Fashion/Media/ Tennis

A lot has been said this week about the fashion at the 2001 Australian Open and the media coverage this has sparked.

The who-har all started with Venus' breasts almost falling out of her new REEBOK tennis outfit. Images of this were splashed across newspapers all over Australia and I'm sure, worldwide.

Unfortunately it's not just the newspapers, there are also too many loose-lipped television commentators out there who suffer too much of the old foot in mouth disease without even knowing it. Don't they know that there are people like me out there who hang on every word muttered just ready to pounce on any slightly inappropriate comment?

I was watching the wrap up of the tennis on the channel 10 - Mauresmo vs Pratt - I only came in half way through the story but my ears pricked up and the "oh my god I can't believe he said that" siren went off in my head.

Gary Wilkinson - (I question his credibility as a sports commentator anyway) in relation to the fashion on the court (because that is all the women's tournament at the Aust Open is about anyway, not actually the tennis) said and I quote - "Just the fact that it's a skirt is a break-through for Mauresmo". The comment was made in regards to Mauresmo wearing a skirt rather than her usual comfortable and highly practical tennis outfit - shorts.

So here we have Wilko passing judgement that all women tennis players should be wearing skirts or at least something feminine - Mauresmo, probably the last of the women tennis players on the tour to do the fashion thing, has gone ahead and finally made that break-through - that leap into short tight skirts which ride up so you can see your even more upward-travelling knickers. But of course there is a double standard here because Anna K actually wears shorts too. Oh but Anna K is a teen blonde sexy twink and well, Mauresmo is a lesbian and built like a man and plays tennis with the power of a man. I hope who ever was co-commentating with Wilko at the time (Pam or Liz) felt the pang of the "oh my god I can't believe he said that" too.

But lets be fair, it's not just the women's fashion being reported, at the end of Agassi's match the other night, Johanna Griggs did ask Andre about the shorts that he was wearing. I'm sure Agassi was less than impressed.

I don't think we can lay the blame for the Venus coverage (or lack thereof) solely on the media. In my opinion, it is a symptom of a much larger attitudinal problem regarding women and sport. After all, it wasn't all that long ago that 'ladies didn't sweat'.

The Australian media will tell whatever story will help them to sell papers. The public is full of conservative voting, good ole boys who want to read about 19yo blonde twinks wearing next to nothing bouncing all over a court in the faint glimmer that they can achieve a 5 minute fantasy over that tennis player. Fat old men sitting in their offices don't want to read about a woman who is 6ft something tall and hits the ball harder than most men (i.e. Lindsay). This would usurp their superior position of being the dominant sex in the species.

Whilst media motives may be very questionable, there could be positives to this obsessive preoccupation with fashion at the moment, not the least is the amount of media exposure being brought to the players, this then in turn brings increased spectators: all of which means that more and more sponsors want in on the action, therefore bringing more money to the women's tour.

Which came first - the chicken or the egg; popularity or the marketing? Take Anna K for example. She's the most highly sponsored woman tennis player and she's never won a tournament. She's being marketed; she's an image. Apart from her level of fitness, her image has little to do with tennis. She's marketed because of her looks. There are plenty of better women players, but they may not be 'sexy' enough for the advertisers. And if the advertisers are going to spend so much money on her, they're going to get their money's worth out of her. The whole Venus thing may not have been about badly made clothes, but more about titillation. The media, particularly in Australia, has all the maturity of a 14yo boy with a Playboy. Were the clothes really the point of interest? Or was the point that you almost got to see a famous person's breasts? Famous people naked, and sex, sells. Newspapers and news shows know that more people will buy the paper/watch the show if it features something sexy.

Men are promoted in the media because of talent/skills/achievements, whereas women are still promoted according to their beauty/sexiness.

There is a valid argument here though that marketing (which is what media is about) responds to attitudes/desires/ideals that already exist. Just look at all the 4WD cars on the road now. How much off-road driving do they actually do? No much. The ready availability of such vehicles has not produced a corresponding boom in 4wd holidays and facilities. People buy these cars because the marketing evokes images of freedom and escape and adventure. Most people are too busy with the daily grind of making a living to have time to trek around the outback. But it's nice to dream.

Back to tennis. Who could argue that Marty Hingis' popularity is greater than that of Sampo? Granted it probably is, but could that be down to the fact that he has won 13 Grand Slam tournaments and she has won just 5, not to mention the age difference (please don't question my stats, I know they are probably off). I think though that the reason why the women's tennis tour is actively trying to market a small minority of its players (Marty H, Williams X 2, Anna K) is that in the entire history of women's tennis, only a very select few were ever able to win major tournaments or dominate, such as Marty N, Chris Everet, Steffi and Monica. Now they are faced with an embarrassment of riches whereby viewers can watch any tournament around the world and not know who is going to win - well anyone in the top 5 if not the top 10 has a chance of winning - Capriati as case in point- who would have picked her to win the Aust Open? Women's tennis has taken a positive turn through stronger player development. It's now the men who are trying to catch up through their "New Balls Please" campaign whereby they are marketing their younger generation players, in the hope of keeping up with the women.

Any activity that ensures that female sports players are as heavily involved in the news (if not for their sporting prowess) as the current crop of female tennis players, then that has to have a positive side doesn't it? Perhaps in the short term it might be considered sexist, but lets think of the longer term here. Venus has just signed one of the largest sporting deals in history with Reebok and it appears that Anna K will top that next year at the end of her current contract. How many ads on TV have you seen a naked Marty H promoting Sanex shower gel, or her one long sleeve Adidas shirt? These images have flooded our screens of late, but I haven't seen any with a guy in it. I think that the current crop of young women are doing more to actively promote female recognition of sport than ever before, simply by virtue of bringing a larger audience and appeal to their sport. Lets also remember that whilst people sitting in their armchairs at home are watching, they are actually watching a sporting event. What about young girls who want to be able to lead what is perceived to be a fantastically glamorous life, therefore take up tennis as well (if only Australian girls would take it up, then we might actually find someone capable of winning a match). Although we may not appreciate it now, perhaps in a few years time we will able to look back and praise the current crop of young women for taking women's tennis into a whole new era, in much the same way Navratilova is credited with increasing the fitness levels of players.

Now here is a totally different point about the fashion. In the Australian sun, and amidst complaints about the heat during the Australian Open, don't you think long sleeve shirts should be mandatory? What sort of message are we sending to our children? It's okay to play in the sun for hours at a time without adequate sun protection?

And what's with that back-to-front wearing of the headwear? This can't be good for skin cancer on the face. Perhaps little boy Lleyton should be asked to do school talks on how to not be like him (and I'm not talking about his lack of sportsmanship here) but instead being SUN SMART.

Back to Venus and the fashion media coverage. It was either really dumb of REEBOK to design such an unfriendly tennis outfit or really smart. The advertising achieved from Venus' little fashion incident was enormous for REEBOK, Venus and the Australian Open. Either way though, I certainly won't be buying REEBOK sportswear. They are obviously incompetent as sportswear designers/manufactures; they don't seem to know the importance of 'cross-your-heart' support for women.

As for Lindsay Davenport and NIKE, well Lindsay has been described this week as one of the 'conservative dressing tennis players'. Her on court clothes may be conservative, but still fetching and more appealing to a real sports minded person, I think.