that s it. new ball. shots are 2-2. got by him. comes back with it! you try to put your entire being mentally and physically on automatic pilot while you re playing tennis. everything is concentrated on the razor s edge and you forget the score. you forget where you are. you forget what your name is. i feel like my body s floating within myself. the game of tennis is a symphony in white. players in white suits hitting a white ball back and fort. in all white country clubs but a new, young player has come along and he is one of the greatest we have ever produced and he is not white. i sense confusion in what an athlete should be, especially an african american context. does still persist in the world about black athletes because we tend to do disproportionately well in athletes. i like to fight the myth. there are lots of us who can think as well as run, jump, hit tennis balls, dunk basketballs. and the challenge now is to convince young black athletes that the
that s it. [ applause ] 2-2. comes back with it! you try to put your entire being mentally and physically on automatic pilot while you re playing tennis. everything is concentrated on the razor s edge and you forget the score. you forget where you are. you forget what your name is. i feel like my body s floating within myself. the game of tennis is a symphony in white. players in white suits hitting a white ball back and forth between white baselines in all-white country clubs. but a new young player has come along and he is one of the greatest we have ever produced, and he is not white. i sense confusion in what an athlete should be, especially in an african american context. there does still persist in the world myths about black athletes because we tend to do disproportionately well in athletics. some people think we are all brawn and no brains. and i like to fight the myth. there are lots of us who can think as well as run, jump, hit tennis balls, dunk basketb
connors led 4-3 in the first set, then produces a devastating form. remarkable even for him. when he played somebody, he almost had to hate that player. he s not lost a set in these championships. sometimes he carried it even outside of the tennis court. in fact, jimmy had sued arthur. just before wimbledon, there was in progress a lawsuit against me by jimmy connors because i had said someplace that connors was, quote, seemingly unpatriotic, end of quote, for not playing davis cup. there was a lot of off-court bad feeling. i mean, you know, you re all in the locker room changing clothes and the locker rooms aren t that big. connors was not everybody s favorite. but the guys in the locker room
Semifinal. jimmy connors would be next. he had never beaten jimmy. lost to him every time. they did not get along. connors led 4-3 in the first set, then produces a devastating form. remarkable even for him. when he played somebody, he almost had to hate that player. he s not lost a set in these championships. sometimes he carried it even outside of the tennis court. in fact, jimmy had sued arthur. just before wimbledon, there was in progress a lawsuit against me by jimmy connors because i had said someplace that connors was, quote, seemingly unpatriotic, end of quote, for not playing davis cup. there was a lot of off-court bad feeling. i mean, you know, you re all in the locker room changing clothes and the locker rooms aren t that
We don t want our kids using that word an we don t want anyone calling our kids that name or our friends. in our clubhouse, it s just not acceptable in that type of environment. historical context is such an important part of this. greg, you know i love you, man, greg anthony, i m a big fan. you know we talked about this before. you talk about the fact that this is happening in a locker room. the fact is, a locker room is a workplace. these are professional athletes. they are paid to do this job. shouldn t the standard be held higher? well, you could have that conversation but, again, i go back to context and the environment. to me, it s the environment. there are circumstances listen, there s even a difference listen, i have a tremendous amount of respect for latroy. there s a difference in the locker room you re in. true. in baseball, the locker rooms aren t predominantly african-american. so that s true. that s my point about context. i would find it less acceptabl