Did you hear there was a royal wedding last weekend? How lovely did Meghan Markle look? She done us Americans proud!
In case you didn’t get your fill of wedding dresses, we have recent(ish) tennis player wedding gowns for today’s fashion face-off. (Noticeably absent is Serena Williams–I couldn’t find any copyright-free images to use.)
Instead, we have Agnieszka Radwanska (a favorite player of mine) and Dominika Cibulkova.
Before getting to the poll, let’s take a moment to consider a curious statistic. Of the twenty-five top-ranked male players, eight are married–almost a third.
None of the top twenty-five female players is married. Not one.
Radwanska, once ranked number two in the world, is now ranked 28th. She is currently nursing a back injury, but her ranking had been plummeting for some time before. Cibulkova was once ranked fifth in the world. She is now 36th.
Should we draw any conclusions about these stats? I can think of two different, but equally grim, possible inferences–one about the capability of women to balance marriage and a grueling year-round travel and training schedule, the other about the capability of men to play the supportive spouse role.
On the other hand, we do have two wonderful examples of married women making a tennis career work. Since her 2008 marriage, Bethanie Mattek-Sands has won seven majors and the Olympic gold in doubles. And Kim Clijsters won three majors post-marriage and motherhood. It can be done.
And if anyone can do it, Serena can…even without being granted a seeding at the French Open.
Enough with the depressing social commentary. It’s Friday! Let’s get to the fashion poll!
Radwanska takes the traditional approach for her dress…
Embed from Getty Images
while Cibulkova opts for a decidedly contemporary gown.
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Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everybody!