Tennis and All That

Following on from my LGBT+ History Month blog post this time last year and an article in which Djokovic highlights the complete invisibility of gay men on the ATP Tour 1 , I would like to ask, why is there such a low percentage of current lesbian and bi players on the WTA (and none of the current top women players are openly gay)? In addition, apart from Renee Richards (who hung up her racquet back in 1981, never having won a title in 4 years of professional tennis), where are the trans tennis players? This is despite the LTA issuing guidelines 2 on how GB tennis can create an inclusive and welcoming environment for trans and transgender players, as well as all those who work in the sport and spectators, in line with the Equality Act 2010. Unlike the common usage of the term transgender, which encompasses a variety of gender identities, it appears that the LTA’s definition of trans specifies people who are at any stage of the gender reassignment stage, which includes those who ...

The Australian Open feels a long time ago already, although it’s only been just over a couple of weeks! I was pleased Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova did so well. Kvitova was runner-up (taking her to world number 2) and Pliskova was a semi-finalist (taking her to world number 5). Pliskova is playing great tennis with her new all-female coaching team. She has hit upon an important aspect of being on the tour: it’s not enough to be great in practice, it’s about taking your form in practice into your matches 1 . How does one do that? I can identify with her description of the frustrations you can feel in matches. It’s not experience-based because even Pliskova has suffered from it and I think it’s something we all suffer from at every level of the tour. Two main problems, which Pliskova talks about in her AO QF post-match press conference, are negative thinking and playing less aggressively as a result. When tennis players talk about playing aggressively, they don’t mean what is usua...