What did Gimelstob say to extract this from Serena?

[Marius_Hancu]

Seems to be between the competition between the women players and the wives/gfs for the attention of male players in common tournaments.

Anyone having his reference?
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http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2005-08-29/200508291125344072976.html

Q. This is the US Open, so obviously stuff happens. Justin Gimelstob recently wrote that in tournaments where there are both the men's and women's circle that... you're smiling already... that the women players have to compete for the most beautiful 1%?
SERENA WILLIAMS: The most beautiful 1%?

Q. Of the creatures on the Earth, men's players, wives and the girlfriends. Is that a silly comment?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't understand the comment.

Q. He said in the player lounges, women players who come off court and who are athletes and sweaty have to compete with the girlfriends and wives of the men's players who are extremely attractive.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, they're always models. The guys like to date models. I'm not competing with nobody out there (smiling). There's no competition that I'm in.

Q. Are you saying you can hold your own, is that what you're saying?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Hey, I'm not in the competition (smiling).

Q. Do you play into a stereotype, his comments?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, they always date beautiful women, for sure. It's always a model or something. I'm no model.

Q. But you've always been proud of your body?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm definitely, you know, excited about my I've always accepted my curves (laughing). There's nothing I can do about it, so I've learned to accept it and live with it. I mean, I read an article in USA Today that was talking about these new ads. Nike had this new campaign. I told my Nike representative, "Why didn't you guys use me for this?" It was a joke, but it was about curvey women. Like I said, I'm not in the competition.

 

[Grinder]

Haha, Gimelstob is awesome.

My bad, I didn't know you didn't see his blog.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/justin_gimelstob/08/25/nobody.safe/index.html

 

[Bora]

I dunno what he is talking about. There is something really sexy about an in-shape female tennis player in her tennis outfit. And a little sweat here and there isn't gonna turn off most guys. Just look at Sharapova last night.

 

[Kevin Patrick]

Marius,
Davenport wasn't pleased with Gimelstob's blog either:

Lindsay Davenport, speaking to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Charlie "Brick" Bricker, responding to Justin Gimelstob's blog for SI.com on the women showing too much skin at the US Open: "I'm always curious what the fascination is about men having to judge women constantly. What they look like. What they wear. Who they hang out with. It's like women are, 'Oh yeah, he's cute, well whatever.' We don't sit there and go, 'Oh, my gosh, his arms are a little too thin, his legs are a little too thick. 'And men have this endless fascination with, and Justin especially, about just depicting and picking on everything about the body. And so his column was, I thought, a waste of time."

 

[joe sch]

I think Justin definetly has a point and Serena surely has some issues with it.
Surely Lindsay and many of the other players also ...
I bet Justin could be a pretty sensational interviewer

 

[Colpo]

joe, you might want to revisit that op. if you'd seen Justin during the early days of The Tennis Channel, where he was on his way to becoming Murphy Jensen. He didn't prove to be much of an interviewer, because he's his own favorite topic. While it's certainly nice to have him back on tour, he gives one the impression of speaking (blathering?) before thinking it through.

 

[MonkeyPox]

Justin came off like an idiot I thought. Especially for sort of a fat guy. He is really not the one to be commenting on people's bodies. And even if he did have a good body, it would be classier and smarter still not to. He seems like an affable guy, but he's starting to also seem a little stupid. I read his blog and it was a total waste. There are a lot of things he could comment on and be interesting, insightful or funny, and instead he came off like a tool.

Serena and Lindsay sounded well reasoned. At least from what you wrote here.

 

[Andy Hewitt]

I dunno what he is talking about. There is something really sexy about an in-shape female tennis player in her tennis outfit. And a little sweat here and there isn't gonna turn off most guys. Just look at Sharapova last night.

Fo real, I totally remembered that article when I saw Sharapova yesterday.... MERCY!

 

[joe sch]

joe, you might want to revisit that op. if you'd seen Justin during the early days of The Tennis Channel, where he was on his way to becoming Murphy Jensen. He didn't prove to be much of an interviewer, because he's his own favorite topic. While it's certainly nice to have him back on tour, he gives one the impression of speaking (blathering?) before thinking it through.

Yes, and thats why I used the "sensational" term, ie getting emotional responses out of players, not that he would be sensational

 

[tennisToad]

I've said it before and I'll say it again...Gimelstob is an idiot.

/Hey s.i. there are more quality people to write articles from a players perspective. or maybe they are hoping for some more foot in mouth articles.

 

[kosmikgroove]

For someone who's made such a minimal impact on the sport, im not surprised to see Gimbelstob trying to make a splash off the court. He fails miserabley on both accounts.

The man is insufferable

 

[Deuce]

Gimelstob is actually very accurate in his description of the current state of women's tennis: "the ever-increasing desire for each and every young sassy player trying to outdo -- or in this case, under-dress -- the next.
My prediction? Pretty soon the WTA practice courts, and maybe even the match courts, will resemble a women's volleyball court, with g-strings and bikinis being the only logical next step."

Anyone who thinks that the above perspective is anything but accurate obviously knows little about the WTA. This apparently includes Davenport who, rather ignorantly, feels the need to come to the 'defense' of the WTA in dismissing Gimelstob's comments as chauvenistic.

How can Davenport - who is known for her class - not see that an increasing number of women - and a disturbingly increasing number of female children - both within the WTA as well as in the general populace - are asking - begging, even - via the way they dress - to be judged by their bodies alone?

Gimelstob 1
Davenport 0

No question.

 

[Phil]

Seems to be between the competition between the women players and the wives/gfs for the attention of male players in common tournaments.

Anyone having his reference?
---------------------------------------------------
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/interviews/2005-08-29/200508291125344072976.html

Q. This is the US Open, so obviously stuff happens. Justin Gimelstob recently wrote that in tournaments where there are both the men's and women's circle that... you're smiling already... that the women players have to compete for the most beautiful 1%?
SERENA WILLIAMS: The most beautiful 1%?

Q. Of the creatures on the Earth, men's players, wives and the girlfriends. Is that a silly comment?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't understand the comment.

Q. He said in the player lounges, women players who come off court and who are athletes and sweaty have to compete with the girlfriends and wives of the men's players who are extremely attractive.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, they're always models. The guys like to date models. I'm not competing with nobody out there (smiling). There's no competition that I'm in.

Q. Are you saying you can hold your own, is that what you're saying?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Hey, I'm not in the competition (smiling).

Q. Do you play into a stereotype, his comments?
SERENA WILLIAMS: No, they always date beautiful women, for sure. It's always a model or something. I'm no model.

Q. But you've always been proud of your body?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm definitely, you know, excited about my I've always accepted my curves (laughing). There's nothing I can do about it, so I've learned to accept it and live with it. I mean, I read an article in USA Today that was talking about these new ads. Nike had this new campaign. I told my Nike representative, "Why didn't you guys use me for this?" It was a joke, but it was about curvey women. Like I said, I'm not in the competition.

Sounds to me like Serena makes the most of a bad situation-someone trying to get a rise out of her and she just playing off it. She's a good sport, at least in this instance. This is creepy "journalism" but it's pretty much all there is these days.

 

[Colpo]

Anybody catch Steven A. Smith's withering criticism of JG's comments on last night's "Quite Frankly"/ESPN? Ouch! Bringing a streetballer's mentality to the proceedings, Smith read off the comments, let them marinate for a couple seconds, and laid (I mean laid!) into JG. He must've called JG a scrub about a dozen times, as in, "if you're gonna mouth off, you can't be a scrub, and you're a scrub." Another priceless line was, "who cares what you [JG] think?" Admittedly, SAS was clearly uninterested in dealing with the accuracy (or not) of the comments, just that they were inflammatory and were put out there by a scrub whose opinion nobody gives a sh*t about. Now, if JG would only take the bait and come on SAS's show to hash it out, but I think JG's wise enough to know that for better or worse SAS would leave JG in tatters wordsmith-ing wise (I'm thinking, closing scene of "8 Mile" as a rough approx.).

 

[tennisToad]

Now, if JG would only take the bait and come on SAS's show to hash it out, but I think JG's wise enough to know that for better or worse SAS would leave JG in tatters wordsmith-ing wise (I'm thinking, closing scene of "8 Mile" as a rough approx.).

Maybe JG could send Spadia to battle rap him... Spadia has been looking for a good battle rap anyways..

 

[MonkeyPox]

I think Lindsay is right on, as usual.

 

[ohplease]

Anybody catch Steven A. Smith's withering criticism of JG's comments on last night's "Quite Frankly"/ESPN? Ouch! Bringing a streetballer's mentality to the proceedings, Smith read off the comments, let them marinate for a couple seconds, and laid (I mean laid!) into JG. He must've called JG a scrub about a dozen times, as in, "if you're gonna mouth off, you can't be a scrub, and you're a scrub." Another priceless line was, "who cares what you [JG] think?" Admittedly, SAS was clearly uninterested in dealing with the accuracy (or not) of the comments, just that they were inflammatory and were put out there by a scrub whose opinion nobody gives a sh*t about. Now, if JG would only take the bait and come on SAS's show to hash it out, but I think JG's wise enough to know that for better or worse SAS would leave JG in tatters wordsmith-ing wise (I'm thinking, closing scene of "8 Mile" as a rough approx.).

Steven A. Smith is a hack. He wasn't even on my radar until other sportswriters started making fun of him - in print.

I think his biggest problem with J.Stob is one he probably didn't mention: he doesn't want anyone else horning in on his lousy, talentless schtick.

As for the big Stob - more power to him. Buzz is good, and if he's making people talk he's doing his job. Check Courier's recent comments about how talking up the game is part of the job description (in reference to Federer, and in pointed criticism of his own behavior when he was #1).

 

[rlbjr]

SAS went after JG for one reason only, sensationalism. J's comments were controversial, as intended, and got a lot of play in the media. Smith has a new show to get off the ground and just wanted some press. True to unimaginative form, he went after the messenger, not the message. The 'last resort of fools...' or something like that. Serena rpetty much verified what J was saying, that the men players are all seeing hot women. He assumes that the WTA players feel somewhat compettitive with their looks and my experience says he's probably right, to some degree.

Justin may be a scrub, (note to SAS: scrub is a team sport term. Proper term would be journeyman for tennis. Learn the game if you want to comment on it)
but he has been out there playing for a living for nearly a decade. What did Smith ever do?

 

[Brettolius]

Steven A. Smith is a hack. He wasn't even on my radar until other sportswriters started making fun of him - in print.

I think his biggest problem with J.Stob is one he probably didn't mention: he doesn't want anyone else horning in on his lousy, talentless schtick.

As for the big Stob - more power to him. Buzz is good, and if he's making people talk he's doing his job. Check Courier's recent comments about how talking up the game is part of the job description (in reference to Federer, and in pointed criticism of his own behavior when he was #1).

Dude, you are right on the money with this one. He doesn't want any one gaffling any of his lousy, talentless schtick...that's freakin' classic! Steven A. Smith is a turd, he was a turd when I saw him on all those smaller segments on ESPN, and now he's just...a turd with a talk-show. First off, right or wrong anyone else cannot disagree with him because he won't even let them make their points before he just starts going off on them with his jabber-jive. Second, who the hell is he calling a professional athlete a scrub when he's just a loud-mouthed ****** who is making his living off what these "scrubs" say and do, him and his little sewing circle up there like a bunch of yenta's. Gimelstob has got people talking about his blog more than they ever did about his career. Quite frankly, that's all you need. Out!

 

[MonkeyPox]

OF course Gimlet said those things to be controversial, but couldn't he have instead said something insightful or intelligent or something like that, instead of something inane? He could have still made some play out of saying something refreshing and different, just not something stupid. I'm surprised that Morrarieu didn't set him straight before that came out.

 

[Deuce]

OF course Gimlet said those things to be controversial, but couldn't he have instead said something insightful or intelligent or something like that, instead of something inane? He could have still made some play out of saying something refreshing and different, just not something stupid. I'm surprised that Morrarieu didn't set him straight before that came out.

Well... was there any untruth to what Gimelstob said about the WTA?

You say that Davenport is right in her rebuttal to Gimelstob. Is this to say that you don't believe that the WTA, and the players who populate it, are very deliberately - and increasingly - 'sexing up' women's tennis simply in order to sell it? Apparently, Davenport doesn't seem to think that's the case - despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Are you with Davenport here? If so, please explain.

 

[MARK ANDERS]

SAS is a MORON!!!!

 

[goober]

Anybody catch Steven A. Smith's withering criticism of JG's comments on last night's "Quite Frankly"/ESPN? Ouch! Bringing a streetballer's mentality to the proceedings, Smith read off the comments, let them marinate for a couple seconds, and laid (I mean laid!) into JG. He must've called JG a scrub about a dozen times, as in, "if you're gonna mouth off, you can't be a scrub, and you're a scrub." Another priceless line was, "who cares what you [JG] think?" Admittedly, SAS was clearly uninterested in dealing with the accuracy (or not) of the comments, just that they were inflammatory and were put out there by a scrub whose opinion nobody gives a sh*t about. Now, if JG would only take the bait and come on SAS's show to hash it out, but I think JG's wise enough to know that for better or worse SAS would leave JG in tatters wordsmith-ing wise (I'm thinking, closing scene of "8 Mile" as a rough approx.).

Interesting that Steven A Smith is complaining about JG mouthing off and he is a tennis scrub. Steven A Smith mouths off everyday and he is a scrub broadcaster. Outside of basketball he is completely clueless. Even within basketball a lot of his proclamations are complete BS.

 

[goober]

OF course Gimlet said those things to be controversial, but couldn't he have instead said something insightful or intelligent or something like that, instead of something inane? He could have still made some play out of saying something refreshing and different, just not something stupid. I'm surprised that Morrarieu didn't set him straight before that came out.

Actually I found *some* of his comments insightful. For instance I did not know that WTA players refused to practice with each other. Several of the WTA players were interviewed at the US Open and confirmed this. This is not something the general population would necessarily know. As far as WTA players wearing skimpy outifts. If you look at how players are dressed compared to 15 -20 years ago there is no question that WTA players are going towards skimpier and skimpier outfits especially on the practice courts. But the men are guilty of this too. A large number of men are always practicing without their shirt on. I didn't find his column a waste of time you just didn't like what he had to say so you respond by calling it unintelligent and inane.

 

[joe sch]

SAS is the original scrub, as defined by himself. He has always been controversial in his blatent statements as this is how he got himself noticed. I think he is really just afraid that JG is using his example to get more recognition. JG statements are his opinion and based on his actual feelings experienced while playing on the pro curcuit. He has outdone SAS in this respect ! How ironic is it that SAS is really just getting JG some more publicity

 

[JRoss]

JG sort of appologized in his next blog. Actually, I've enjoyed his pieces, and he mentioned that he has been dating Lindsay's doubles partner and cancer survivor Morariu for 2 1/2 years.

 

[raspell38120]

Hey, Justin your 15 minutes are up

Gimelstob was supposed to be one of the up and coming Americans years ago. he's kind of like McEnroe (John), always screaming for attention. that's what all the diving is about. anything to get attention because his singles game gets ZERO attention. with their family history, I think I'd quietly go about proving my good character instead of showing everyone you're a cocky ***. And yes, I've been around him. And he's what I expected. Good doubles game though. But stiff singles player. Hey, Justin, you're 15 minutes ended at Ucla. that's as good as it gets. Time to move on. Does the word "journeyman" mean anything to you?

BTW, last week there was talk of players reading these boards. he'd be my top bet to google and read anything that has his name in it. anything for attention.

 

[Fee]

Pretty sure Justin doesn't read tennis message boards.

As for his blog, I have to tell you I nearly fell off my chair when I read the first entry last week, I thought he had read my mind. Last March I was at Indian Wells, sitting on the grassy area next to the practice courts waiting for a friend. Since she was a few minutes late I had the opportunity to view the parade of WTA players passing by on their way to practice, each outfit skimpier than the last. After about 5 or 6 minutes, the one thought that entered my mind was whether or not the WTA Tour employed an official bikini waxer for the girls because those shorts were skimpier than anything I would ever feel comfortable wearing in public (seriously, many of them were wearing less material than you would need to make 2 decent size dinner napkins). Thank goodness the lovely and modest Elena Dementieva walked by to restore my fatih in good taste. Read the entire blog, his observations are mostly about human behavior, not about people's bodies or whatever.

Justin's not fat, by the way. He may not have an abdomen as cut as Ginepri, but he's pretty slender these days. He's done 5 blog entries now, a little bit uneven, but worth the time it took to read them. Yes, he's pretty much accepted the fact that he's a 'journeyman' player (read his Wimbledon interviews) but he's also said that he doesn't know how much longer his body will let him play, so he's going to milk as much out of the rest of his career as he possibly can.

 

[Noelle]

Actually I found *some* of his comments insightful. For instance I did not know that WTA players refused to practice with each other. Several of the WTA players were interviewed at the US Open and confirmed this. This is not something the general population would necessarily know. As far as WTA players wearing skimpy outifts. If you look at how players are dressed compared to 15 -20 years ago there is no question that WTA players are going towards skimpier and skimpier outfits especially on the practice courts... I didn't find his column a waste of time you just didn't like what he had to say so you respond by calling it unintelligent and inane.

As for his blog, I have to tell you I nearly fell off my chair when I read the first entry last week, I thought he had read my mind. Last March I was at Indian Wells, sitting on the grassy area next to the practice courts waiting for a friend. Since she was a few minutes late I had the opportunity to view the parade of WTA players passing by on their way to practice, each outfit skimpier than the last.

Pointing out the obvious but ignored tends to irritate those who attempt to turn a blind eye. Obviously Justin's first entry hit a nerve and he's apologized for the brouhaha it caused, but what he said isn't any less true. Our eyes tell us that.

 

[Rabbit]

IMO, Gimblestob has always had an outlook toward women equivalent to a 14-year old. I can still remember him in one of his first interviews asking for some actress to call him, that he'd like to meet her. They guy's an eternal adolecscent. What competition is there? For what? Or better for whom? Does he really think that the WTA players are in competition in the players lounge for the ATP players? Or are they in competition for Most Beautiful at the tournament. Didn't he go to Princeton? Or was that the Princeton Night and Technical School of Shop?

 

[Fee]

Rabbit dear, I have to disagree with you. (No, he never went to Princeton, one year at UCLA). He's 28 years old, I think he may have changed just a little bit since 'one of his first interviews' and that comment could have been one of his early, lame attempts at humor. As for the 'competitive' aspects of the players' lounge, about a year ago VH1 did a show of some type (perhaps one of their 'All Access' episodes) about the women's tour. I distinctly remember Jen Capriati and another player discussing the different behavior of the female players at combined events (more makeup, a tendency to change into clean clothes and recomb hair after practice, etc, etc), so this isn't really news, he just put another spotlight on it. Ever notice how employees of a company will criticize the company and complain about it, but if an outsider does the same thing, those same employees will show their loyalty and defend the company? I think this as all been kind of like that.

 

[MonkeyPox]

It wasn't that some of it isn't true, but he acted like it was some revelation that people in general, in tennis, men and women, and in society, men and women, dress sexier and more revealing in general. He framed it in a way that I didn't think was accurate in its focus on the WTA. And I just thought the comments about male players' girlfriends being better looking than the WTA players were sort of inane. That would be like saying, Ginnepri or whoever is so much better looking than Justin, he must feel bad. Um, probably not, why would he care. I would think that's how they feel too.

I just thought Gimlet had a somewhat more clever sense of humor and a keener eye, and simply judging from the blog, he doesn't.

 

[Rabbit]

Rabbit dear, I have to disagree with you. (No, he never went to Princeton, one year at UCLA). He's 28 years old, I think he may have changed just a little bit since 'one of his first interviews' and that comment could have been one of his early, lame attempts at humor. As for the 'competitive' aspects of the players' lounge, about a year ago VH1 did a show of some type (perhaps one of their 'All Access' episodes) about the women's tour. I distinctly remember Jen Capriati and another player discussing the different behavior of the female players at combined events (more makeup, a tendency to change into clean clothes and recomb hair after practice, etc, etc), so this isn't really news, he just put another spotlight on it. Ever notice how employees of a company will criticize the company and complain about it, but if an outsider does the same thing, those same employees will show their loyalty and defend the company? I think this as all been kind of like that.

I stand corrected.....and it's never been so easy to say that.

 

[Fee]

Well, considering how much I've learned from you on this board (even when I disagree with you), I humbly appreciate your admission.