Ok, so Victoria Duval, the 259th ranked women’s tennis player in the World, qualifies for the 2013 US Open, goes up against the 2011 US Open winner in Samantha Stosur, and is competitive, but loses 5 to 7, then wins the second set 6 to 4, then comes back to win again 6 to 4, and stuns the muscularly hot Stosur, and the World in the process.
It’s a great story for a ton of reasons, some we don’t want to deal with, but so what? We’re going to. First, she’s 17-years-old, and black – and she’s every bit the girl-next-door who’s perfectly mainstream, an open example of how wrong media commentors like Don Lemon and Bill O’Reilly are when they try to shoe-horn everyone who’s black into one box and say we all have problems. Victoria Duval is the middle finger to Don Lemon and Bill O’Reilly.
Second, she’s just good – she makes errors, to be sure, but is possessed with a wickedly fast return of serve and a forehand reaction that produces lethal results. Just ask Samantha Stosur, who would say you have to bring your “A” game to play anyone at the US Open, and she didn’t do that. Why? Because she was playing the 259th player in the World.
Well, Samantha Stosur learned a lesson: take no one for granted.
Third, and finally, Victoria Duval’s story is one of a lot of grief, but also a lot of blessing. Her father almost died in the Haiti Earthquake, but lived to tell about it. Jean-Maurice Duval dug himself out of the rubble after being buried alive. But Victoria Duval’s story is also one of blessing: she was mentored by Billy Jean King, and obviously understood the importance of having Ms. King involved in her growth as a player and a person.
Stay tuned.