British tennis star Andy Murray is again going out of his way to interject feminism into tennis, this time acting as if a reporter was slighting female tennis players with a question asked of Murray after his loss to American Sam Querrey at Wimbledon.
During the post match press conference, a reporter prefaced his question about Querrery’s win saying, “Sam is the first US player to reach a major semi-final since 2009.”
But before the reporter could get to his question, Murray mumbled something that was barely audible. The reporter stopped dead in his tracks and said, “I beg your pardon?”
Murray spoke up saying, “male player.” Clearly Murray was reminding the reporter that Sam Querrey is the first male U.S. player to reach the semi-finals in recent years. After all, there has been a long list of females who have attained that status in the last several years including Venus and Serena Williams, not to mention Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, and others.
https://twitter.com/_JamieMac_/status/885189154128224257
Immediately the liberal sports media erupted in slobbering praise for Murray the “feminist” male tennis player.
Some stories of the reporter’s question, such as that by Salon.com, accuse the reporter of “unconscious sexism.” More called it “Casual Sexism.” Other stories said that the reporter “forgot” that there were female players or even “ignored” female players.
But did this reporter exhibit the “sexism” he is accused of?
Probably not. After all, the story he was reporting on was that of specifically men’s tennis, not all tennis. The reporter was focused on the bout between two male players and was posing questions to one of those players, not waxing eloquent about tennis as a whole.
Even the left-wing Washington Post understood this distinction. Even as the Post engaged in the same sycophantic behavior toward Murray, it did note that the reporter wasn’t really wrong, per se.
“Taken within the context of just the ATP, the reporter’s question isn’t offensive,” the paper wrote. “Andy Roddick was the last American male to make it to the semifinals of a major. In 2009, he advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open and the final of Wimbledon. He lost both matches to Roger Federer.”
Despite the reality of the situation, the sports media went wild as Andy Murray once again pushed feminism into his comments.
This is far from the first time Murray has made to push feminism. Several times he has been seen pushing for equal billing for female tennis players. He even advocated for equal pay for female players. For constantly pushing a feminist point of view, Murray has been praised as “the feminist that tennis needs.”
One thing is sure, being hailed as the sport’s “feminist hero” is a good way to mask the fact that 1st seed Murray got his racket handed to him in the quarterfinals by 24th seed Sam Querrey, 3-6 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-1.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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