Serena vs. Venus: How a Photograph Spotlighted the Fight for Equality

Serena vs. Venus: How a Photograph Spotlighted the Fight for Equality — page 1
Chapter One HISTORIC MATCH Evening fell in Flushing Meadows in Queens in New York City but the Arthur Ashe Stadium glowed bright as day under blazing lights It was September 8 2001 and more than 23,000 spectators packed seats surrounding the tennis court below Enormous screens showed close-ups of the opening ceremony taking place Across the country almost 23 million people watched on TV at home For the first time ever the U S Open women’s singles finals match was being broadcast in prime time It had not been squeezed between the men’s semifinals matches in the afternoon as usual The finals match would be unlike any other in the past The Williams Sisters Have a Date With History a New York Times headline that morning had announced The sisters were the first to play each other in a major tournament in 117 years And it was the first time both players in the Grand Slam finals were African-American Photojournalists gathered along the edges of the court their cameras ready to record the historic match On assignment for Reuters News Agency Mike Blake trained his Canon DCS520 digital camera on the sisters Twenty-one-year-old Venus Williams and her sister Serena younger by 15 months walked by in zipped warm-up jackets holding flowers They posed at the net with rackets standing close to one another and smiling