TENNIS

Clijsters: “Serena and Venus Williams Got a Lot of Sh*t For…Than Naomi Osaka”

Published

3 years ago

No Wimbledon and no Olympics. This is Rafael Nadal’s decision. The Spanish champion, fresh from the defeat against Novak Djokovic in Bois de Boulogne, has announced it on social channels. “It’s never an easy decision to make but after listening to my body and discussing with my team,

I realized it’s the right choice to make. On the Spaniard’s decision, a New Yorker writer retweeted Nadal’s recent retirement announcement from Wimbledon with the caption: “Seems to me that Naomi Osaka started a very healthy trend of listening to one’s body.”

However, 4-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters was quick to note along with others that the trend began long before, crediting Venus and Serena Williams as the main trailblazers. Clijsters said that Osaka had started a welcome trend of listening to one’s body before deciding what and how much to play.

Tagging Nadal’s tweet, announcing his withdrawal from the two marquee events, Guinzburg wrote, “Seems to me that Naomi Osaka started a very healthy trend of listening to one’s body.” However, former Australian tennis star Rennae Stubbs corrected the writer in reply to her tweet, saying, “It’s been happening for a while.”

A tennis fan was more forthright in her reply to the journalist, as she recalled how Venus and Serena were run down initially for playing selective tournaments and it turned into a fad later, a certified way for players to keep themselves fit and firing for longer.

Joining the conversation, Clijsters said the present-day athletes, including Osaka. are benefitting from a stand the siblings took long back.

Replying to Guinzburg’s tweet, the four-time Grand Slam champion said it is precisely because of the shape that the Williams sisters wanted their careers to take that the tennis world is still able to savor the sight of them in action.

Tagging former Australian tennis star Rennae Stubbs to her reply, Clijsters wrote, “Venus and Serena started it I think…got a lot of shit for it but it’s the reason why we are still able to enjoy their tennis. No Stubbsy?”