…but still astonished and appalled that Sam Stosur could make it to the French Open final but there was no news about it on the morning chat shows this morning. Granted we were only watching for about half an hour before showering and dashing off to the kids swimming lessons, but the ticker tape along the bottom of the screen showed nothing no tennis results at all on either 7 or 9; we watched the sports report on both 7 (Sunrise) and 9 (Today) – apparently North Melbourne won by one point, well done boys, and the Cronulla sharks pulled of a surprise victory, but not a word about the tennis.
Last night it was all hype about how the final started in a few minutes (we don’t have pay TV so we didn’t see it) but this morning it was as if nothing had happened. Wondering what was going on, I turned on the computer and went to the SMH site, and on the front page – straight sets defeat, with a large photo of a clearly pumped Schiavone and a disappointed Sam. It was clearly news worthy enough for the SMH online front page (I didn’t check other online news outlets). We would have gotten more TV coverage if it had been anyone other than Sam Stosur in the final, at least a result. Is her achievement worth so little just because she was runner up? We hear about Lleyton Hewitt all the time, even when he exits in the third round. It is still news. I still sigh and think, next time Lleyton, you’ll get them next time. So why the silence on Sam? Not even an off the cuff remark.
Despite the fact that no Australian woman has won the French Open since 1973 (the year of my birth) and that there hasn’t been an Australian in the French Open final since some time in the 1980’s, apparently not winning is the ultimate sin for a female tennis player. I am waiting to see if we get any coverage of the men’s final. No Australians there, but I bet we at least get to see the result in the tickertape on the bottom of the screen.
Categories: arts & entertainment, gender & feminism, media
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Well at least I covered it on my earlier Stosur thread. It’s all of a piece with the mood of some of the Twitterers last night: when they weren’t disparaging Schavione for being insufficiently pretty they were disparaging Stosur as a “choker” because she wasn’t winning.
Add into the mix another infuriation as tweeted by @Calleja84 last night:
Why can’t it ever just be about the sport the women are playing?
Sorry TT, I should have linked to your earlier article, I did see your comment about the Stosur game. I was thinking this afternoon about the Matildas winning their first ever Asian Cup. Something that the Socceroos haven’t been able to achieve yet.
“Last night it was all hype about how the final started in a few minutes (we don’t have pay TV so we didn’t see it)”
It was broadcast on channel 9, live, at least in Melbourne…
Yeah, we might have missed it because it didn’t show up on the guide on the TV and we just assumed it wasn’t on. From memory we didn’t flick through the channels like we usually do. Although we do get a regional 9 broadcast and they may not have bothered either. Apparently 9 have an arrangement with Foxtel where they sell the rights to the games, but can get back the finals if there is enough interest, as there obviously was for the Stosur match. I still can’t fathom why they made no mention of the result the next day though.
Yeah, I just assumed it was on and flicked channels til I found it.
Unfortunately, Stosur couldn’t hear my enthusiastic coaching through the television.