Source: AP Images
Imitation may be the best form of flattery, but there’s a fine line between imitation and mockery and I feel like Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki has definitely crossed it.
In a recent exhibition match against Maria Sharapova, the 22-year-old opted to stuff her bra and her underwear in order to imitate Serena’s curvaceous body. I’m sure, like me, your first question is, what the eff for?
That I don’t have the exact answer to, except to say that Wozniacki appears to have a knack for reenacting other tennis players, having also imitated Rafael Nadal’s cramps at the 2011 US Open and apparently she also pulled the same Serena Williams stunt in a prior match against Andy Roddick. Still, I’m asking what is this really about?
I hate to get all into the objectification of the African American female body, but I feel Wozniacki leaves me no choice. If we’re being honest, no one else in the realm of tennis elite looks like Serena Williams — skin tone or body type — except of course her sister, Venus, who still doesn’t boast quite the same muscular figure. There’s something highly innapropriate about this form of mockery, particularly from another woman, and especially from a foreign white woman. Were a man stuffing his shirt and backside to mimic the female form, there would be an outrage, but for some reason Wozniacki seems to be getting some sort of comedic pass. I want to know who’s actually laughing.
I guess we should just be happy Wozniacki didn’t don blackface but I’m still not giving her antics the OK. And though I know this isn’t Wimbledon, it’s quite interesting that this type of behavior is deemed appropriate but c-walking is bad sportsmanship? I’ll echo the sentiments of most who observed this fuckery and say if Wozniacki really wanted to imitate Serena, perhaps she should have won her match. Instead, Sharapova whooped her 6-2, 7-6. Maybe Wozniacki thought if she had Serena’s body she would have stomped the competition. I’ll chalk that assumption up as yet another one of her many recent fails.
Check out video of Caroline Wozniacki on the court. How do you feel about her impression?
