Women's Tennis: No Gut, No Balls, No Love!

This hasn't been a good week for women's tennis.  Larry Scott and the sisters of the "All talk, No action" have displayed a lack of character that challenges a major league baseball player who claims "I didn't no they were steroids!"

The failure for the women of the WTA to get behind Shahar Peer of Israel and boycott the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships really shows what these women a made of...these girls are all nylon, there is no gut here!

Shahar Peer, the 48th ranked player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, was not given a visa to compete in Dubai this week and it's no coincidence that she didn't get the visa because she is an Israeli.

Larry Scott, the head of the WTA, has always claimed that discrimination of any kind would not be tolerated by his organization and he said "I made it clear to them that if Shahar was not allowed to play, they would run the risk of losing their tournament."

Scott went on to say "A response of canceling the tournament was immediately discussed but Peer and her familiy called for caution" and he went on to sanction the tournament which is currently in its early rounds.

The women of the tour also spoke out.  Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic and Elena Dementieva all expressed disapproval with the decision to ban Peer and Amelie Mauresmo said "the decision was not acceptable."

Shaher Peer is a very brave woman.  She is eager to go anywhere the tour stops to compete.  She'll go to  places where Israelis, Jews and Americans are hated and targeted and Peer is well aware of what happened to the Israeli Olympic Team in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

Peer is also classy and graceful.  When she found out she wasn't getting a visa Peer said, "I believe my fellow competitors should not be harmed like I was."

Scott and the "fellow competitors" didn't show the class or the bravery of Peer.  They talked the talk but when it came to walking the walk, they didn't show up...they showed up and competed in Dubai.

They could have made a statement against discrimination, the principles the WTA are supposed to be so dedicated to by boycotting Dubai.  They chose to play.  They chose not to support one of their own and sold out for the money.

Where were the Williams sister?  Venus said "All the players support Shahar.  We are all athletes and we stand for tennis."  That's really nice Venus...how about showing some of that "support"?

Venus Williams and her sister would probably not be allowed to join most of the clubs they play tournaments at just a short time ago because they are black.  How about standing up for something bigger than tennis?

Venus, did you ever hear of Arthur Ashe...he was more than an athlete with a smile on his face who went on David Letterman and giggled for a half hour! He used his platform to change the world!

So, if you're looking for a story like the one we heard about the 1951 University of San Fransisco Football team that turned down an invitation to the Orange Bowl because the two black players on the team were not invited...this is not that kind of story!

This is a story of a gutless bunch of women and their leader who couldn't do the right thing and used a $2 million pay day to rationalize their decision.