I'm Different, Yeah, I'm Different.

Okay, so the kids are beginning to rub off on me. One too many high school days in an urban school district and I am regularly "irritated" or find things "irritatin'," or run into people who "be irritatin' me." I'm rolling my eyes more. And the lyrics to an infinite number of songs too inappropriate to rap/sing around my mother are constantly playing in my head. The 'Most Frequently Played' song on my ipod went from being Miranda Lambert's Gunpowder and Lead to Two Chainz' Birthday Song. (I know. My sister has already planned an intervention.)

But as many bad habits as I am picking up, I like to think that I am picking up a few good ones, too. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me that I needed to walk around the court like I had swag. And although I've done okay in terms of posing like I have swag, there's always a little doubt in my head. Everyday when I am around these kids, I am amazed at their confidence. Feigned or otherwise. They have a chip on their shoulder and they are determined to prove anyone who doubts their swag wrong.

That's the swag I want to have.

I had a conversation with a pretty intelligent twelfth grader after a match against an opponent who has always acted like I didn't belong on the court with her. All I did was beat her. She accused me of cheating. She threw a two-year-old-sized tantrum on the court. And she badmouths my game any chance she gets. That alone wouldn't bother me... If she treated all of her opponents that way. But she doesn't.

It's just me.

I'm different. Yeah, I'm different. (Middle finger up to my competition)

In a mxd doubles match where I was hitting frame-shot, mis-hit winners and aces all night, a serve got away from me and hit her in the foot. She proceeded to throw a big fit about it. And when another serve got away from me a few games later, she came unglued. But two games later, when my tennis partner mis-hit a serve that just missed her head, she laughed. And joked with him.

Okay.

It doesn't bother me, until it does. Like being highlighted at a hockey league board meeting simply for scoring goals. Forget the fact that the forty team league with six different divisions must have more than merely me scoring goals. Somehow I am drawing attention.

My point is there is always big talk from the USTA about inclusion and diversity. But the sport breeds exclusion.

Take for an example the instance of Taylor Townsend being denied funding for the 2012 US Open because of her "weight" problem. The then #1 junior in the world made it to New York on her mother's dime until stars like Lindsey Davenport herself, the opposite of the twiggy stick players we are used to seeing, spoke out against the USTA's decision to exclude her because of her weight.

Only in the field of women's sports would we dog a player who weighs more than your average player, even though she was the NUMBER ONE JUNIOR IN THE WORLD! And if her weight is a serious issue, sidelining her from competing is counter-active isn't it? Wouldn't a better solution be to tell her to play twice as many tournaments in the hopes that all that tennis might help her shed some pounds?

I play a lot of sports and even though I've faced the typical pettiness that comes from being an African-American in typically Caucasian-dominated sports and there's not a sport that I've yet learned to "play like a dainty lady", tennis has the most attitude. Most other sports will appreciate your game as long as you play hard and work hard.

Not tennis.

I walked out of a hockey locker room one day only to have to go back because I'd forgotten my stick. As I opened the door, I heard a girl say, "Oh my God, did you see her legs? No wonder she's fast." Okay, that was not the first time I've heard comments about my legs. But that was the first time, it was so clearly a compliment.

How is it possible that we can praise Tsonga for being the athletic beast that he is, but we are going to scoff at Townsend? What if the basketball world focused only on Shaq's weight when he was tearing down rims instead of being impressed by the athleticism of someone that big?

If you ever want to see the best footwork on a tennis court, you have to check out Kathleen Hawkins from Western Michigan University. The 5-11 junior is built like a girl Shaq. I have never in my life seen someone so explosive out of every single split step she takes before every single shot! She is my new favorite player. There is so much power in every single shot. But if I was looking at her through the single-sighted glasses that tennis tries to impose on us, all I would see is...

She's different. Yeah, she's different.

Stay tuned,
KS