The Wimbledon tournament is not just about professional tennis players battling for titles, money and ranking points. All of the Slams also host junior tournaments within the same fortnight, and those junior tournaments often have their finals held on the last weekend too. Which is what happened with the girls’ junior championship, the final was held on Sunday, the same day as the men’s final. Clervie Ngounoue, a 16-year-old American, won the Junior Wimbledon title. Clervie Ngounoue also won the junior doubles title at the French Open this year. She’s one to watch, and I would imagine that she’ll turn pro very soon. Instead of focusing on Clervie and her achievement, this is how Wimbledon celebrated her win:
The last two #Wimbledon Girls' Singles champions:
2022 – Liv Hovde 🇺🇸
2023 – Clervie Ngounoue 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/O0gYXXzh92— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 16, 2023
Perhaps it’s more notable if you compare it with Wimbledon’s post for their boys’ champion:
Henry Searle is the seventh player from Great Britain to win the Boys' Singles title at #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/IerxKFTNoP
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 16, 2023
See the difference? Young Black excellence doesn’t get to be celebrated on its own, they just had to include the previous year’s white winner. It might have been understandable if the Wimbledon social media team gave Clervie a stand-alone post for her win, then did a second post like “wow, the past two girls’ winners have been Americans, that’s awesome!” They did not – the first tweet continues to be the only stand-alone acknowledgement of Clervie’s win. It’s giving bitter, racist and hateful, and the die-hard tennis community has taken note. Oh, and Wimbledon scheduled the girls’ final on a much smaller court rather than Court 1, the second most prestigious court at the tournament (and the court where the girls’ final is usually played).
Why did they feel the need to let us know who won last year's Wimbledon when talking about this year's winner?
Could they not have let Clervie Ngounoue have the limelight on her own like they have with previous winners? https://t.co/j4kZgvVRku— Lorraine King (@lorrainemking) July 17, 2023
Photos courtesy of Getty.
The unconscious bias is very conscious these days, in-your-face, flagrant, and proud. Way to be, England and all its heads of state.
We had a similar situation here with the good doctor Biden stepping in it herself.
Reading about this is bringing tears to my eyes, because it reminds me of a US high school who changed the ranking after finding out that the valedictorian and salutatorian were deserving Black girls. https://youtu.be/gGeUM04cZAY
The supremacist shit school, whose teachers and principal would not have Snow White (sorry, I’m 😡) -loyally and on the basis of merit alone- outranked and intellectually outperformed by students of color, devised a diabolic plan in a matter of hours, so as to dim the shine of gifted, hardworking Black girls and drift the focus away from them.
What Whiteldon did with that totally far-fetched, irrelevant, bigoted photo comparison sounds awfully like: “let us remind you that the junior tournament was won by Snow White last year. This year is just an unfortunate accidental mishap in history. We hope our corrective photographic post will tone down the inconvenience.”
I’m going to cry again right now.
YUP!!
First time I saw it happen was when a black guy won ‘the apprentice’ and trump suddenly wanted him to share his win with some white woman/guy (dont recall exactly which gender.
@Sugarhere: I actually just read something about this yesterday again, I think it was on ‘the root’ where they were talking about trying to ‘dim Black lights’. There was another who was not allowed to give his speech at graduation so the Mayor let him give it city hall and then uploaded it to city website. I think the female valedictorian sued the school district(?) Its what they expected Meghan to do btw.
It’s racism…say racism. It’s not unconscious and it’s not bias. It’s racism. Unconscious bias is disproven- it gives racist an out to be racist. Please stop saying it.
I was the first person to call out the use of “unconscious bias” usage versus “racism” as being a distinction without a difference. I wrote what I wrote the way I wrote it on purpose. Please don’t lecture me.
Another glaring example of why DEI is so important.
Not when it comes to this current bunch of BRF members. Hopefully George’s heirs will not be racist, or George perhaps, but not likely with his parents.
I’m sorry to say that tennis as a sport is deeply racist, sexist, classist…all the “ists” lol so when announcing a winner they posted last year’s winner: a White girl in order to lighten the blow to the fragile white tennis fans.
And we wonder why Serena sometimes lost her sh88t on court sometimes; those two sisters went through some things with the tennis world. (BTW, anyone know why S&V’s father disliked Chris Evert so much?
There’s been so much criticism of this post and rightly so. Wimbledon has refused to course correct. Take down the post and put up won of just the winner, like they did for the men’s winner. Or at least add an additional post of just her as the winner. But they didn’t and they haven’t. It’s like they’re proud of their racism or something. Kate being the patron seems about right at this point. What is wrong with them????
This is what is so galling to me. Yes, the post in itself is racist. But they were called out on it, repeatedly, by many different people on twitter. And they refused to course correct. They refused to delete the post, put up another one just for the winner, etc. They really are fine with a post that celebrates a white girl who won last year as a way to take away from the black girl,
In their minds, the post wasn’t racist. Taking it down, would confirm it really was, so they’ll just ignore all the criticisms and outrage and carry on as if nothing is wrong.
Wow, when refusing to admit that they’re wrong, that yeah they were racist AF for this, they just leave the racist post up for all to see. It’s really awful.
It really is shocking that they are leaving that post out there, to dangle, with no course correction.
Considering their royal patron, is anyone surprised?
I hate staring morning feeling bitter and angry. It’s neverending and getting worse… everywhere. I’m choked up.
It can be very disheartening, I know, but hang in there.
I saw people talking about Wimbledon racism but I didn’t know what had happened. Yeah, there was no reason to put last year’s winner in the tweet. It’s giving Jane Champion at the SAG awards. Someone on the social media had a hard time accepting that a black girl won their title. But we shouldn’t surprised. There is a reason Serena didn’t go back for the last year’s and this year’s tributes. Wimbledon never liked having Venus or Serena as champions and who can forget how Meghan was treated when she dared to go to Wimbledon without Kate.
As certain as I am much that the entire BaRF are straight up racist, including pervious royal family members, I hate to lump them in with general public too. But there is no denying that a majority of the UK IS racist, end of! Not a minimal amount but a larger percentage than I would like to have assumed but this blatant disregard for Ms. Ngounoue makes it hard to deny.
#DoBetterBritain
@ BothSidesNow
The UK is just as racist as the US the only difference is that racism in the US is overt racism while in the UK It’s covert racism. They feed a lot of US media to the UK public, so in the eyes of many in the UK, as long as it is not overt racism like in America that it’s not racism.
They out themselves on a regular basis with their racism but will tell you no that’s not true. Actions speak louder than words and their actions are screaming we are racists.
Trifling.
She will still excel though.
Stay pressed.
Agree. I hope she follows Serena’s and Venus’ examples and dominates.
100% agree !
WORD.
This is absolutely mind-boggling. Racist and snobs. Shouldn’t one call from “Catherine, the Princess of Tennis” to the head honcho there have fixed this? But their royal patron is officially off on her summer break with her normal children and can’t be bothered with racism in tennis during this time.
In the Guardian newspaper, there was a recent article of how Wimbledon (hosted by the All England Lawn Tennis Club) helped stop a black player from competing from South Africa back in 1971. You would think someone would learn from history and actually do better.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/14/wimbledon-once-helped-to-stop-a-black-player-from-competing-such-injustice-has-never-been-recognised
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jun/28/how-junior-wimbledon-apartheid-south-africa-blocked-hoosen-bobat-tennis-dream
Congratulations 🎆 🎊🍾🎉🎈 Clervie Ngounoue 🎾 !!!!!! 👏 🇺🇸
Yes! 🥇 Congrats to the Murrican!
She sounds like someone to watch!
https://www.ngounoueclervie.com/my-journey
And yet, Britons and their press INSIST there is no racism on the Salty Isles. I’m beginning to suspect that they have no clue what the word “racism” actually means, because not a day goes by that the British media, Royal Family, and/or random British subjects don’t make racist comments or deeds. Apparently it’s deeply rooted in their culture and they will cling to it for dear life.
@ Beverley
Like I said in my above comment, the British public is purposely feed alot of the American media, and it’s overt racism. While in the UK their racism is covert, and love to believe that as long as it’s not like the overt racism in the US then it’s not racism.
Honestly I used to think that but nowadays I don’t think British racism is covert. Brit’s and other Europeans will say wildly out of pocket things like they are talking about the weather. Instead of covert I would say unacknowledged or so normalized the Brit’s don’t feel the need to defend it. Many American racists know enough to know wider society is ashamed of their actions. That’s why their so defensive of their racism. MAGA racism is a backlash to the genuine progress of the past few years. They want to be racist without feeling bad or getting censured for it. I can see the US Open doing this but it’s more likely they would have apologized by now or at least delete and retweet a correction. The Brit’s just can’t fathom how this is problematic at all.
I also think Americans underestimate how absurd the gun and stand your ground culture truly is to the rest of the world and how much it warps many aspects of society. American racism can always potentially end up with dead bodies. Other countries can be just as or even more racist but it rarely escalates to the degree it will in America so it doesn’t feel as bad. American racism becomes violent super quickly which is why it feels more dangerous or extreme. But I would argue that as a society European racism is just as bad and much worse in many respects cuz it tries to gaslights you into thinking it doesn’t exist while being blatantly obvious
@ Susie
Yes, gaslighting and mind games they play to minimize how you feel about the racism you’re facing and questioning yourself. White Europeans and Canadians love to hide behind “America” as a cover for their racism.
I also think that in the U.S. black and other POC call out racism way more, while in Europe/Canada black and other POC are much more likely to keep quiet about it not wanting to make waves.
@Susie you nailed it. I’d say American racism is vicious and descends into violence more often, and the violence is downright sociopathic. It’s systemic – a Black person and a White person committing the same crime – the White person gets a slap on the wrist and the Black person gets the book thrown at them. The police took Dylan Roof to Burger King cause he was hungry ffs. We all know if he’s Black he doesn’t make it out of that church alive.
It’s not just the criminal justice system or the Supreme Court – it’s literally all aspects of American society. Whereas British racism is equally vicious and again very ingrained, but collectively not as violent as often. At least not lately. Gun culture, stand your ground, the way our criminal justice system works – all these play part in making American racism more insidious and dangerous.
I have to tell my son, when you are playing at a friend’s house and the soccer ball goes into the neighbor’s yard, do not retrieve that ball no matter what. I don’t care if it’s your turn to get it. You don’t get that ball. I know on the other side of that fence is some Karen or some MAGA wing nut just looking for a excuse to fire their weapon so they can cry salty White tears in front of that jury saying they felt so threatened, they thought a child getting a ball was trying to rob/kill them when they and the jury of Karens know damn well they didn’t feel threatened at all and just wanted to shoot a Black kid for points, kicks, giggles. The same people that deny they have any privilege at all sure know how to wield it in front of judges and juries to get away with literally murder and that has been the case for centuries.
Congratulations, Clervie! Can’t wait to see you raise more trophies.
Lots more success for this young lady to come !
Absolutely!
Yet another example of systemic racism in England.
This stuff really triggers me. It reeks of FLOTUS’ participation trophy bullshit with the basketball final. It also reminds me of so many experiences I had down south in public school with my son.
Teacher: whoever gets 100% on the math test and kicks the field goal and scores wins a lollipop!
My son and another Black boy are the only person to get 100% on the math test and two of a handful of kids to kick the field goal and score on it. As the kids are kicking field goals – the White kids who miss it by a mile get SO MUCH PRAISE – omg you almost scored!!! Well done!
She has zero reaction to my child, and the other Brown kids, kicking the field goal and scoring. It’s a mild “good for you” and fake ass smile. She corrects the math tests and writes GREAT job all over the 80% scores. No reaction to my child’s 100%. I mean none. And she went through that paper just hoping to mark it down. I mean she scrutinized that sh** to no end.
At the end of the day teacher praises the White kids for being amazing losers – such great sports! You did SO WELL. Everyone gets a lollipop!!!
Just cannot bring herself to have two Black boys be the winners and get what they earned.
We were in private school pretty quick. And I can tell you stuff like this happened 1000 times with different scenarios. My stories would blow you away. I should write a book on this crap.
F**ck Wimbledon and screw anyone who refuses to acknowledge Black excellence or Black accomplishments while praising and worshipping White mediocrity. They just could not give this champion her moment. They can’t help themselves. This is who they are.
You said it!
Thank you Janice Hill. This is just one incident. I remember it so well. It was the beginning of the school year and she just didn’t expect two Black boys to be the best at math. Her reaction (which I saw firsthand cause I was the classroom parent that day) was so telling. There were no more math competitions that year by the way as it quickly became obvious the best two at it were Black boys.
Also, the kids who were invited to challenge – all White kids with Bs. The two Black boys with As (I cannot speak for the other boy but mine tested at 98% in math, which is supposed to be an automatic invitation to the challenge program) were not invited. In fact, mine was not invited until another Black boy graduated out of the challenge program – in other words, they were waiting for a spot to open up for a Black boy as mediocre at math White kids were being invited left right and center. They insisted when I called them out he simply “slipped through the cracks” they “don’t know how they missed this but are happy to correct it now” I told them to take their offer to join challenge and shove it and the following year we were at private school.
This part! It is so exhausting all of the time. One of the reasons I am pretty sure that I won’t have kids is I am not sure that i have the fortitude to raise Black children in a world that is so hard on them. My parents are amazing, present, and loving and I grew up in a well off white neighbourhood in Canada in the 90’s and when I tell you some of the casual racism our family experienced on the regular, whew!
Black parents needs to stay ready all the time to fight the injustice their kids are subject to(one casual example my oldest nephew being accused of cheating in 7th grade despite him being top of the class and the student accusing him being a lesser student. My sister had to fight with the teacher and the principal. Now her son is twenty-six, and has a doctorate in math from one of the best universities in the world)
I hope your wonderful son keeps shining and I hope that teacher finds karma one day.
Ah you’re awesome Sunny! Thank you so much. It’s a lot. We had a very similar upbringing, only I’m a bit older than you. I can tell you the fun thing about being older is you start to call things by their right name – I have completely stopped caring who likes me. I hate to use the expression mama bear cause it reminds me of Sarah Palin lol, but your instinct to protect your kid kicks in and you just go to battle for them. I used to only fight the big battles now I fight the little ones too. I am so so glad we moved to New England and there are far fewer battles (if I’m honest, it’s hardly any anymore) to fight.
I still worry about him getting his license, driving etc. Thank you for sending good vibes his way. I love how this story turned out for your oldest nephew! I love stories like yours! I still hate he had to go through that but the end of the story is just amazing. As is the part where your sister took on all comers like a badass!
As patron of tennis, shouldn’t Kate meet the junior winners as well? Seen to be promoting tennis, working on the good sport can do, etc, etc? Sponsor some underprivileged children to a game even just qualifiers. This is so blatant. What point did they want to prove by showing last year’s winner along with a new champion who happens to be a young woman of colour? But I imagine that the image of Wimbledon is white. I wonder how Serena and Venus feel about all this?
Another reason to let Britain go. I don’t take that little island seriously anymore. They are just running backwards and have the nerve to be nasty. Fix your economy and heat bills while you are being mean to kids.