Not only is Caroline Wozniacki a second-tier tennis player, she’s now apparently a second-tier comedian.
Perhaps that was a little harsh.
She’s a talented tennis player, but not nearly as dominant as the woman she chose to make fun of.
Stuffing your skirt and sports bra and wagging your butt around the tennis court while impersonating a more well-endowed competitor is hardly a funny joke, if you can consider it a joke at all.
It’s lazy and stupid.
“She has a big butt!” is hardly a punch line. At least not one any self-respecting adult should laugh at.
The problem with this kind of gag is the example and broader message it sends: the physical appearance of female athletes is fair game for fodder.
Before you blow the sexism whistle, consider the way female athletes are portrayed versus the way male athletes are when it comes to their looks. Yes, people make jokes about C.C. Sabathia’s gut but the real conversation about his weight didn’t start until he lost a bunch of it. And even then it was mostly people making cracks about his admitted Captain Crunch habit and how kicking it helped him lose the 30-plus pounds.
In general, male athletes are allowed to look however they want without risk of criticism as long as they perform. The same can’t be said for female athletes, and anyone arguing otherwise just needs to flip on a TV or open a magazine to be proven wrong.
As a fellow female athlete, Wozniacki shouldn’t be promoting the idea that her body type is normal and Serena’s is somehow hilarious.
If we saw this kind of thing on a playground with one child mocking another’s ample behind, or in a professional office environment, we wouldn’t be laughing.
We’d be pretty horrified and the ‘comedian’ would be called a bully.