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Melissa Harris-Perry: Back on The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris-Perry. When we met her more than 20 years ago, she was the little sister.
Speaker 1: The Williams sisters have won. Another historic moment here in Paris in 1999, 8 - 6 in the third. The first-ever sister combination in the 100 years of this century to win a Grand Slam double title. Here's the mother Oracene Williams [unintelligible 00:00:35]
Melissa: At just 17 years old, Serena Williams initially played in a shadow cast by her remarkable older sister, Venus. After winning a total of 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, the William sisters played what might be their final grand slam match together, losing on September 1st.
Speaker 2: What a long career it's been for Venus. Reached the final here in 1997, 25 years ago for the first time as these two greats say thank you as they leave the court.
Speaker 3: They're getting a standing ovation.
Melissa: Serena's singles loss on Friday at the US Open marks the likely end of her remarkable singles career too which included 23 Grand Slam singles championships. The most ever in the Open Era.
Serena: I just thank everyone that's here that's been on my side so many years, decades. Oh my gosh, literally decades. It all started with my parents and they deserve everything. I'm really grateful for them. I wouldn't be Serena if it wasn't Venus so thank you, Venus. It's been a fun ride and it's been the most incredible ride and journey I've ever been on in my life. I'm just so grateful to every single person that's ever said go, Serena in their life. I'm just so grateful because you got me here.
Melissa: With me, today is Amira Rose Davis, Assistant Professor in African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and co-host of the podcast, Burn It All Down. Amira, welcome back to the show.
Amira Rose Davis: Yes, it was great to be with you.
Melissa: All right. How were you feeling on Friday?
Amira Rose Davis: Oh, it was such a roller-coaster week. The whole week and Friday had like a million-in-one roller coasters in it. There was a moment where you just were like, "Is she going to really make a run at this?" Then when it was time to finally definitively say farewell at the end, it was a lot of emotions, a lot of tears. When she said that line to Venus, it just got me. I was just a puddle by that point, but what amazing week it was.
Melissa: All right. Does it have to be definitive? Can we get her a Jersey with the four, five on it? Let her come back like Jordan. Does this have to be the end?
Amira Rose Davis: The great thing about how Serena is framing her evolution is that it's not linear and she talks about being a little vague and how she thinks this is the end, but you never know. I think she's always leaving a little bit open. For me, where she is with her evolution, I think that at this point we take her at face value when she says that this is it, and be pleasantly surprised if it's not.
Melissa: Talk a little bit about the reasons that she is evolving into this next level. She did prepare us for this with her Vogue cover story saying that she's seeking to expand her family. Can you talk to us a little bit about what Serena has taught us off the court about the challenges of Black womanhood?
Amira Rose Davis: Yes, absolutely. The Vogue piece was really great because she gave a heads-up. I know me as well as many fans took that as the opportunity to go to the US Open and bear witness to this last chapter. One of the things she writes about is family planning and what it means to be a woman and athlete and a mom and all these things. She almost died five years ago to last week giving birth to her child. She's dealt with pulmonary embolisms.
Nearly a decade ago, many people might not remember that she dealt with these embolism issues. It took her out of tennis for nine months. It threatened her life then. She's come back from injuries. She's come back from childbirth. I think she's looking at it and saying, "I'm older, I'm aging. This is a hard hill to climb anyways, but now it seems like I have to choose and I'm choosing to expand my family."
She even makes the point that when we talk about gender parody and gender equity and things like that, these are some of the barriers for women athletes, especially as they advance in their career, that these are decisions they have to make. For her, that was a really big factor. I also think that she has multiple interests. She's been playing tennis her entire life. Her and Venus have talked about being in pursuit of freedom, to look at other things, to be businesswomen, to invest in other areas of their life. I think whether it's family planning or her business or whatever, she has multiple focuses at this point. That's really what she's evolving towards.
Melissa: Now, Amira, you went past that quickly. The phrase means maybe even more than you meant it in that moment, I want to dig in. Being in pursuit of freedom. Yes, maybe the freedom to do other things, but haven't the William sisters also been demonstrative of what it looks like to be in a pursuit of freedom more broadly?
Amira Rose Davis: Absolutely. I think this goes to your question about how they embody Black womanhood unapologetically, undeniably. I think the freedom for them to both enter the sport and play as they wanted to play, they showed up as themselves. I love seeing Olympia's hair in those white beads, which has a callback to the beads that both Serena and Venus wore and that Serena had in her head in '99 when she won her first title at the US Open on that very court.
They showed up as themselves and dominated as themselves and they didn't change. It's one of the reasons why Serena and Venus, but Serena especially has become such a symbol infused with all these meanings, such joy when she wins where so many Black women in all walks of life, not just athletes, feel inspired by her journey.
When they're walking into predominantly white spaces, when they're walking into spaces or doors that have previously been closed, that's a persistence, that's a resiliency, that's a swagger that they can take with them that Serena Crip Walking or just being her full joyful self. I also think that freedom contains multitudes because it also has to acknowledge what they've actually endured, what this journey has been because it hasn't always just been this joyous expression. It's been a fight. Serena even said this week, "I've always had an X on my back." I think that being free from this particular space and even the burden of being a symbol is also something that I would love to see her access during this next evolution.
Melissa: Yes. I really felt it even as she very honestly thanked all of her supporters. I also kept thinking, "Yes, for all y'all who didn't support, by the way, check out what I did." Amira Rose Davis is co-host of the Burn It All Down podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Amira Rose Davis: Thank you for having me.
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