Skip to content

Thigh Anxiety: Can tennis withstand a Williams-Wozniacki U.S. Open short-skirt showdown?

Sep 8, 2010, 1:00 PM EST

8 Comments

If things go just right — and knowing you, you’ve broken into church three times this week to pray for this — Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki could meet Venus Williams in the finals of the U.S. Open women’s singles. See photo to the right for the reasoning here. Such is the state of women’s tennis, I suppose, when the big news is not the quality of play, but the length of the outfits. Williams wore this fetching ice dancing outfit to beat Francesca Schiavone on Tuesday and advance to the semifinals, where she’ll meet Kim Clijsters. Wozniacki, meanwhile, meets Dominika Cibulkova in the quarterfinals tonight after a revealing victory over Maria Sharapova. As Leslie Nielsen said in Airplane: “Good luck. We’re all counting on you.” But is tennis ready for this?


For their part, Williams and Wozniacki have embraced the attention. After her win over Maria Sharapova, Wozniacki was asked about what she looks for in a tennis outfit. From AP:

“For me it’s important to feel good on court and of course to look good,” she said. “Then I can focus on my tennis at 100 percent. (The attention) is nice. I think I’ll get a lot of male fans now.”

Earlier, Wozniacki had said that one of the players she has always looked up to is Anna Kournikova.

“Well, to be honest, Kournikova was always for me the girl that I thought was just … I wanted to be like her, definitely,” said Wozniacki. “I thought she was very pretty; she was handling everything really nicely. You saw her everywhere in the commercials. I think I would more go for Kournikova.”

So is this good for women’s tennis? Or a sign of its weakness? Have the women become glorified cheerleaders for the men? For the answer, tune in Saturday night for the women’s final on CBS. It’ll be interesting to see what the ratings are if it’s the big Skimpy Dress Showdown.
***
Caroline Wozniacki’s U.S. Open Outfit: Is Dress Too Short? [Huffington Post]

Skip to Comments (8)
More Off the Bench
Back to Homepage
  1. RB - Sep 8, 2010 at 7:46 PM

    Camel Toe spotted at US Open
    http://www.sportsfat.com/a/2383/PHOTO-Caroline-Wozniacki-sports-camel-toe-at-US-Open
    rb-sportsfat.com

  2. Deborah Cox - Sep 8, 2010 at 10:49 PM

    Are you kidding me? You’re praying for short skirts and a little wind so you can see up a girl’s dress? What is this – middle school? It’s fine that the young women are interested in their tennis dresses being fashionable, while they’re playing killer tennis. It’s not fine that you’re an idiot.

  3. Barlow - Sep 9, 2010 at 3:03 AM

    People should be thankful. As I understand it, in the first Olympics, the athletes all competed nude.

  4. BC - Sep 9, 2010 at 10:13 AM

    Only a matter of time before someone shows up for a match wearing a thong. Too bad Amanda Coetzer is retired.

  5. NikolaiNYR - Sep 9, 2010 at 10:34 AM

    As a male sports fan I can sum this up.
    Flicking channels on Sunday I stopped at the Sharapova-Wozniacki match for the dresses, but kept watching because it was great tennis.
    Last night I tuned in again for the next Wozniacki match because it was a great match. Despite the wind, she kept her poise and walked her opponent into a ton of unforced errors.
    So she’s right, the dress got the attention of this male fan, but I’ll keep watching because she’s playing great tennis.

  6. Impala - Sep 9, 2010 at 11:43 PM

    Looks more like a bathing suit than a tennis outfit but it really makes no difference to me. It’s about the same as female ice skaters or volley ballers wear. At least they are more fit than some of the golfers or bowlers so can get away with it.

  7. Kaye - Sep 10, 2010 at 11:31 AM

    Whatever happened to the high class in the sport of tennis? The crisp, snow while tennis outfits for both men and women brought propriety and elegance to the game. I object to the impropriety of showing everything you have under your clothes during such a prestigious event as the U.S. Open. Men don’t need to wear baggy black shorts, this is not the “hood”. Let’s get back to respecting this game and it’s history. This country is losing engouh respectability as it is.

  8. Jennifer - Sep 10, 2010 at 1:39 PM

    Sexism at work. Men get to play in comfortable clothes that don’t distract them. Women feel driven to wear bizarre clothes that require them to tug them back into place after every point.

Leave Comment

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

More Off the Bench
Back to Homepage