Australian nice Rennae Stubbs has taken purpose at world tennis over its “missed opportunity” to interact extra elite feminine coaches as she questioned whether or not a “sexist” Australia was able to embrace a lady in a head teaching function in a serious males’s code.
Revealing she was left shocked and shocked on the silence of her personal telephone after her work with celebrity Serena Williams on the US Open final 12 months, Stubbs stated the shortage of teaching alternatives for herself – and different girls – in skilled tennis remained irritating.
While Stubbs has labored with the likes of Williams – for her farewell at Flushing Meadows final 12 months – Karolina Pliskova, Genie Bouchard and Sam Stosur, she stated the skilled recreation was lacking the prospect to learn from the expertise and “female’s perspective” former prime girls gamers might convey.
Almost 10 years after English star Andy Murray made headlines after he introduced former French participant Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, she stated there nonetheless must be a “lot, lot more” feminine illustration in key teaching roles.
“I have had some great opportunities to work with some really terrific players,” Stubbs stated.
“But you think about what I was able to help Serena with for the last couple of weeks before her US Open run where she was not playing great tennis and I think she played pretty well at the US Open, so I hope I made a difference there.
“But after the US was done and everybody knew that Serena was retiring, there has not been one phone call made to me or an approach from an agent to me if I would work with one of their players.
“So (it’s) absolutely disappointing and shocking and surprising in a lot of ways. Even (fellow coach) Darren Cahill said to me ‘If you don’t get a great job after this, I will be shocked’.
“I said ‘Welcome to being a female in the coaching environment’.
“There are a lot of players that could benefit from my thinking, my previous work with other players and also my own spirited conversations with them.”
Amid an absence of teaching alternatives, Stubbs, a four-time Grand Slam doubles, two-time combined doubles champion and revered tennis commentator, has now taken up a internet hosting function with Amazon.
But Stubbs remained assured of the teaching impression she might make – for each elite men and women on the skilled tour.
“I think there is a missed opportunity there from some players out there that could absolutely benefit from a female’s perspective,” Stubbs stated.
“There is no doubt I could step on a court with a male player and help him and I would have no problems saying that to anyone.
“To me, there is no difference between a woman coaching a male than coaching a female because men are coaching women, so what’s the difference?
“I think that women coaches are fantastic and I think they understand other women tennis players clearly better than the men.”
One of the issues in girls’s skilled tennis, particularly, as Stubbs defined, was many gamers opting to work with a coach who might additionally double as a hitting associate.
“You get these guys out there that are nowhere near the experience of someone like me or whoever when it comes to being on the big stage and being able to cope with those moments,” Stubbs stated.
“They get a two-for-one kind of thing, they get a guy that can hit with them and play with them more than say a female who is retired, maybe.
“It’s cheaper to employ a guy that is younger, that can play really well and can sort of give them advice and most of these women think that that’s good enough.”
Stubbs believed the shortage of girls’s teaching alternatives in elite tennis had been comparable with the scenario in different sports activities worldwide.
But she stated a lady would “absolutely” be able to a senior teaching job in one of many main codes in Australia.
“I would probably put (tennis) up there with all other sports that are high-profile,” Stubbs stated.
“When you look at women’s basketball or basketball in the United States, we haven’t seen a female head coach of a team.
“It’s getting closer and closer for example with the likes of people like Becky Hammon …. who has been in the system at San Antonio Spurs.
“You could argue in Australian football, AFL … there are plenty of women out there that could probably coach a men’s side given the opportunity.
“They would probably rise to the occasion because I think anyone that has the audacity to think they could coach in the premier leagues around the world is good enough to do it.”
But Stubbs questioned whether or not Australia was prepared for it.
“I think Australia is probably as sexist as any country in the world, so doubtful,” Stubbs stated.
“You’ve got to not only have the audacity, but you’ve got to have the thick skin to be able to deal with all the crap that comes your way.
“Could you imagine coaching an AFL team and the absolute vitriol that would come your way as a coach as a woman? It would just be outrageous.
“You would have to have courage to do it. You can talk to women in the codes in Australia that are CEOs or managers or there is a couple that have been given absolute hellfire for the decision-making they have made and if it was a man, they wouldn’t cop anywhere near the amount of crap that they do.
“There is no doubt in my mind there is a woman who could do that (lead coaching role), but they would have to be a really special person in their ability to be able to take the loads of vitriol that would come their way.”
Stubbs stated it was crucial for ladies to be seen in key teaching roles.
And there was one easy technique to make change.
“Just give women an opportunity,” Stubbs stated.
“And the women that get asked to do it don’t be afraid to say ‘Yes’ because some people in that situation are probably a little bit unsure if they can handle it and, as I said, all the crap that would come their way.
“You know as a female in a high-profile situation like that, boy oh boy, if you fail, you are never going to hear the end of it and the people that will come behind you will suffer as well because of it so there is a lot of expectation and there is a lot of pressure on them.
“But I would say, ‘Put your hand up, do it and trust your instincts’ and I think the best things will come from that opportunity.”
Originally printed as Australia is just too sexist to embrace feminine coaches throughout males’s and girls’s sport, says Rennae Stubbs
Source: www.news.com.au
