Wimbledon is being called out for racism towards a Black juniors champion
Daniel Lopez 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 🇺🇸— 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
— 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?— Lorraine King (@lorrainemking) July 17, 2023
Photos courtesy of Getty.
