Sexism, Spanish Tennis, Davis Cup
There was a shitty article about the backlash against Spanish Davis Cup captain Gala León that really irritated me over the weekend but I lost the link and didn't find it again 'til today so I'm gonna be discussing this situation now.
I'm not gonna post the full article because it's written in language that makes it clear that the author believes most (if not all) of the fault lies with León and is completely based on the easily disprovable premise that there was no sexism at all in the backlash since León’s appointment, but the gist of it is that the Spain-Russia Davis Cup playoff tie is happening in less than a month way out in Vladivostok, and almost all the (male) Spanish tennis players will be boycotting the tie to protest the RFET ("Real Federación de Tenis Española" which is Spain's tennis federation) and León’s appointment to the captaincy.
The author of the piece says the RFET has been making "dictatorial decisions" but didn't list a single example of those decisions (unless they're referring to the vote that made León DC captain). In January during the Australian Open apparently a bunch of Spanish players and coaches got together to respond to these decisions and decided to boycott the RFET, whatever that means: For instance, the article gives no explanation of whether or not all these players and coaches immediately stopped accepting RFET funding or assistance. (The author also calls the players and coaches "impartial" and "united" which, just lol.)
Also apparently there was a meeting last fall between León and a gathering of Spanish players (Rafa and Ferru weren't there and the author doesn't say why). This is what the article says about that meeting:
The players told the captain not to use the sexism argument again, as it was not where their thoughts were headed.
At the end of the meeting and facing great media expectancy, León commented: “I don’t have to apologize for being a woman.” In seven little seconds, she had thrown all the meeting out of the window, had mocked the players, and had hit again on the sexism nail. There came the definitive rupture. The captain went and prejudiced the players and they did not tolerate it.
This is what I mean about the article being shitty. Despite actual documented sexist shit thrown at León—snide comments from Toni Nadal that she can't enter locker rooms, press collusion with parties opposed to her leading to incidents like her being ambushed on talk radio, repeated accusations that she isn't qualified for a job actual male Slam winners (see: Carlos Moyá) have been shit at if you go by results alone—the author of this piece says SHE is in the wrong for having the nerve to say "I don't have to apologize for being a woman" at a group of men who literally gathered to tell her to shut up about sexism. The author is unashamedly hellbent on carrying water for all the butthurt Spanish players trying to pretend there was no sexism at all embedded in the quick and intense backlash against León.
Other irritating comments from in the article:
Rafael Nadal was one of those who spoke without hiding himself. “One thing is clear here: the want to divert the attention to a place where it’s never been. They want to put the focus on a subject as delicate as sexism. The last thing I am is sexist”, he commented in Roland Garros. “They wanted to throw us to the wolves by calling us sexist and this, to me, seems like an intolerable lack of respect.”
Calling a woman openly discussing actual sexism she experienced a "lack of respect" for the male tennis players? Oookay. Telling that Nadal is quick to decry Gala León’s lack of respect, but says nothing about his uncle’s snide comments about León and repeated comments to the press about her lack of qualifications.
Nadal also issued a ~warning~ (described by the author as "concrete and precise" lol) that the RFET makes most of its money from Davis Cup so they'll be hurting player development and the ~future of Spanish tennis. But of course, the butthurt boycotting players who are mad that the lady won’t shut up aren't be hurting Spanish tennis at all.
Another bit from the article:
Gala León does not speak with the players, does not go to the tournaments, nor does she appear to have the wish to get closer to the players. She has not spent even a day in Paris, claiming “personal issues”; neither did she speak with them in her hometown of Madrid, and she did it even less in Barcelona. To this day, in Spain, the captain figure, which is vital in order to build the group’s unity and form a real team, is non-existent. León does not show herself, does not call the players, does not meet with them, and there are two camps: the RFET on one side, and the players on the other.
Lol and why exactly should she go meet with them? She's not going to step down as captain which is what they want, so what point is there groveling to dudes trying to get them to play in Russia? Apparently the butthurt menz decided to boycott the RFET way back in January, so what is the point of her trying to show up during clay tournaments months later trying to kiss the asses of men who said they aren't going to play under her captaincy and told her to shut up about sexism? Why is the onus solely on her to find ~unity? Why can't the men make half the effort and do better about reaching out to her?
The players' position is apparently that THEY'VE been disrespected and that the RFET is at fault for making a controversy out of sexism which would be funny if it wasn’t a completely shitty thing to say. The author then laughably concludes his piece by stating that "the RFET is worrying more about political matters than about sporting issues"—as if the players themselves have no political motivations behind their actions either. As if trying to silence a woman having an open discussion about the sexism she felt she experienced isn’t deeply, deeply political.
I mean, there's mutterings now about how there's concerns with how ~corrupt the RFET is and how they spend their money and make decisions, plus talk about how the regional arms of the RFET (e.g. federations for Catalunya, Madrid, Valencia, etc.) are all competing in various ways for influence and funding, and as someone who side-eyes Big Organizations and their internal politics on principle I can see all of those things being legit issues:
But even if all that is true, it doesn't change the fact that the initial reactions to León's appointment were mostly, "Lol she can't even come into the locker room." They're weren't: "Well gee, I'm really concerned about the RFET's procedures and practices and how they spend their funds and run themselves as an organization."
And even if the concerns re. the RFET are true... is it that hard to NOT tell a woman to shut up about the real sexist backlash she faced? They can whine about Big Tennis making top-down decisions all they want but it doesn't change the fact that there was real sexist backlash against León. Fight Big Tennis all you want, but you can do that without trying to silence a woman about sexism.
Oh, and NO ONE who expressed that they were so concerned about León's qualifications has commented to say that Carlos Moya, the previous Davis Cup captain, was shit at his job, even though if we go purely on Davis Cup results he was. But does anyone really think if León loses her first tie, even if she can only manage to get a D-list team thanks to this childish boycott, that folks won't call for her head?
A Spanish lady who follows tennis told me that: "Nobody talks about the fact that the players said NO to Moyá [when he asked them to play Davis Cup ties last year]. They said NO despite him being the captain they wanted. Apparently Moyá is so kindhearted he didn't want to push the players to play. That is why he resigned even though León tried to convince him to continue in the position."
So they got the captain they wanted yet still skipped Davis Cup, and when he was resigning Gala León tried to convince him to stay, and yet these players and their water-carriers in the press are still acting like the RFET gave zero shits about them and their preferences.
Anyway, here is the source link for the shitty opinion piece if you want to slog through it. Apparently the players are contesting León's appointment in the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) now. Also, Daniel Gimeno-Traver and David Marrero are committed to play in July, which is something I’d like to commend them for but if they are dependent on funding from the RFET they might be playing because they have to and not because they actually support Gala León, and I don't think either of them have commented on why they're playing.
I don't think any of the top players have commented since Rafa's comments above which are from awhile ago. There's a recent article here where León was quoted saying something to the effect of "I'm an icon in lots of countries, not so much this one" and Pablo Andújar retweeted a link to it with a sarcastic "OLÉ!" as his comment. Which... it is kind of a grandiose thing to call yourself an ~icon, but she said more down to earth stuff and good stuff about women in sport and made the crucial point that none of the Spanish men have reached out to her to find ~unity the way her critics have been saying she needs to do with them, but they just ran with “lol I’m an icon!1” as the headline. (As a side not, I'm glad my fave Spaniard Tommy has kept quiet about all this, though it's not too surprising considering he was never "in" with the established Davis Cup clique the way Ferrer, Lopez, et al. all were/are.)
ANYWAY TL;DR WHAT A MESS. Basically my feelings on this is if these pressed dudes want to replace Gala León 'cause they didn't choose her, fine and dandy. But telling a woman subjected to sexism to shut up about it isn't how you do it.
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