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For the first time in more than three-and-a-half years, the top-ranked player in womens tennis is not named Serena Williams. The long-standing No. 1, who held that ranking for 186 weeks, hampered by a knee injury, lost in the US Open semifinals Thursday night to 10th-ranked Karolina Pliskova. And with it, she also lost her shot to break Steffi Grafs record for consecutive weeks atop the rankings.Until we get the opportunity to watch Williams play in another major -- which wont be until the Australian Open in January 2017 -- all conversation around her will invariably involve some sort of assessment of her career and legacy, attempting to put into historical context one of the greatest athletes weve ever seen.The key word there is athlete, not womens tennis player. As Williams herself said after her third-round victory last Saturday, Im a female, and Im an athlete. And Im an athlete first.Too often the coverage of Williams qualifies her as one of, if not the greatest, female athletes of all time -- something were?just as guilty of here at espnW. Its certainly important to acknowledge Williamss womanhood. Her femininity has constantly been denied due to that toxic mix of sexism and racism known as misogynoir -- her hair, her body, her demeanor and even her sartorial choices are endlessly scrutinized, while both her strength and her sexuality have been used against her.But the focus on Williamss gender when evaluating her athletic career usually isnt about humanizing or empowering her. Most likely, its said with a wink and a nod to separate her from the men.The subtext is, Yeah, shes the GOAT, but at a girls game. Framing it in this way does more than merely undermine her success. It spares people from needing to consider her among legendary male athletes without comparing her to them.A common tactic in disparaging womens sports is to argue that female players wouldnt be able to beat men in one-on-one competition. This, of course, entirely misses the point: Williams is in the category of all-time greats who similarly dominated their field. Nobodys going around asking if Mariano Rivera would beat Muhammad Ali in the ring.?The need to uphold male athletes as the standard-bearers is often excused away by some lazy argument about quality of competition, but its really about the inability to see sports as something other than just for men. In a column for VICE, Rick Paulas argues that those looking for a woman to beat a man within the same sports are overlooking the fact that most of the major sports were designed to suit male skill sets:I tend to cringe when ascribing such specific attributes to broad gender groups, and I disagree with the implication that if women cant run or swim or serve as fast (Williams can, by the way), that makes womens sports inherently less worthy. But the idea that sports were designed exclusively with men in mind continues to segregate sports as a space thats not meant for women.And the tactic used to justify that is the straw man of direct comparison. A male athlete is simply an athlete, the natural order of things, while a female athlete is an anomaly -- and a supposedly inferior one, at that. Its this thinking that continues to stand in the way of equal pay for women players while holding back the confidence, support and investment needed to help womens sports continue to grow.It doesnt help that those covering sports, including tennis, continue to be overwhelmingly men. According to FiveThirtyEights Carl Bialik, men comprise 73 percent of journalists covering the US Open this year. Thats how you get a reporter telling Andy Murray hes the first tennis player to win two Olympic gold medals, and Murray having to remind him that Venus and Serena have won four each.While this might be an extreme example, it goes to show how separating men and women athletes in our minds can serve to erase female players entirely from our consciousness.But women athletes arent going away, and its up to those of us in the media to continue to nag people into acknowledging their existence and worth. It might be a blatantly self-serving move, but Nikes new campaign declaring Williams the greatest athlete ever is meaningful for both contextual and material reasons. The hesitance of major companies to see marketing value in female players has been a major barrier to the growth of womens sports, and here you have one of the biggest sponsors in sports declaring the supremacy of an athlete who happens to be a woman.At the end of the day, if youve somehow managed to forget one of the greatest athletic careers weve ever seen, the only person who missed out is you. Rio and Flushing notwithstanding, Serenas numbers speak for themselves, and the utter electricity with which she lights up the court is undeniable. And she hasnt just been an incredible boon to the profile of womens sports; she has managed to keep tennis relevant in the U.S. during years of futility by American men. Its not a far cry to imagine a young boy at the Williams sisters Los Angeles tennis academy dreaming of one day becoming Serena. We should all be so lucky. Authentic Basketball Jerseys . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Fake Basketball Jerseys Free Shipping . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. https://www.fakebasketballjerseys.com/ . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Cheap Basketball Jerseys .ca! Hi Kerry, Heres an interesting one. I know its common knowledge that all players are responsible for their sticks. We witnessed that when Zack Kassian hit Edmontons Sam Gagner in the face after a missed check. Fake Basketball Jerseys Authentic . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left.I am not sure what the correct word to use to describe the feeling I get as training camp continues in Edmonton. Urgency? Attitude? Focus? And may I dare say anger? This is the beginning of the Kavis Reed, Ed Hervey era in Edmonton. The two have played together and know each other for 15 years. And it sure seems that they are the bosses and that is it. There have been very few coaches that can also be exceptional general managers and there are very few general managers that can be exceptional coaches. Right now there are just two: John Hufnagel in Calgary has done quite well in Calgary and Kent Austin does both, as well as being the Vice-President of Football Operations in Hamilton. The difference in the two jobs is so clear and diametrically opposite I am amazed if one person can do both as well as Wally Buano did for so many years. Reed is the head coach and is concerned about one thing: the now. What is happening right now? How can I improve the team right now? Everything is about the present moment. As for Hervey, his number one thought process is tomorrow. Planning; not only the roster but also the business side of football. Many coaches like both jobs because it gives them control over personnel, which the coach should have. Thats why the two jobs held by two people must mesh into one vision. Sometimes egos and attitudes get in the way and a decision is made by one person that creates resentment from the other. It happens all the time when clarity of responsibility is absent from employment. I dont think thaat will happen with the Reed/Hervey situation.dddddddddddd Sure, it is early and adversity has not yet hit. But both are communicators and if they can communicate with those outside looking in, they can communicate with each other effectively. The best thing the Eskimos did so far was get a quarterback. No disrespect to Matt Nichols because in this league, you need two. They were pretty aggressive in getting Mike Reilly back on January 31, jumping ahead of a couple other teams who had the same desires. Reilly really hasnt done much. He is 53-77 (68% completion rate), for 694 yards, four touchdowns to two interceptions in his CFL career. That is not much. But sometime you make decisions on belief, or maybe faith. Truth is, there is not much physical evidence with Reilly, but definitely some potential; some faith. Sometimes a little video analysis says a lot. Sometimes a one-on-one interview says a lot. And sometimes other people say a lot of good things. Thats all Mike Reilly. Nichols showed some good quarterback toughness last year. It will be an open competition and one of these guys needs to establish an identity as a quality starter because the sooner that happens the quicker the hangover of Ricky Ray will defuse. I realize people – including myself – say it every year, but the West is going to be special. Each team is better right now than they were last year, and in some cases a lot better. I hope all the kickers are ready, I see a lot of field goal decisions in the West this season. ' ' '