Althea Gibson and Serena Williams
Many people filled the seats to watch superstar athletes such as Althea Gibson and Serena Williams, the famous tennis players that took on many champions to victory. Althea Gibson is the first African-American to win the Grand Slam title and was known for her passion on the court. As followed, in 1999, Serena Williams became the second African –American woman to win the U.S. grand slam title. These strong, passionate women both faced similar upbringings and carried the same passion in their blood when it came to playing Tennis. In spite of Althea Gibson and Serena William’s fame and riches, there is evidence they both experience the feeling of depression that many strong women struggle with. If not careful enough, depression can ruin an individual’s life. However, Serena Williams and Althea Gibson both have a defensive mechanism that drives away depression in their lives.
Althea Gibson and Serena Williams are among the few ladies who stand out in the tennis sports. Their fame and riches have grown more prominent as each day passes. However, on the other side of life is depression, which they struggle to brush it out of their lives. Depression is a mental problem that results in low moods and a lack of interest in activities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, depression is twice common in women than in men. The research paper will look at Gibson and William, one of the greatest women in the sports fields. Besides, getting famous, they encountered depression which caused a significant turn of events in their lives. Depression does not consider how wealthy or famous an individual is. Since depression affected Gibson’s and William’s, how were they able to deal with the situation? Did they reveal to the world what they were facing, or they went private about the situation? How were they ready to battle out of depression? These are some of the queries that will be answered in the research paper.
Through this research paper, the understanding of depression will get broader, and the effects that are as a result of depression will be crystal clear. As stated earlier, depression is more of a mental feeling that results in one lacking interest to perform activities they love most. Depression may be viewed as an alight thing, but it can overtake one’s life and cause some adverse effects. These adverse effects include weight gain or weight loss. This is a result of changes in appetite where some people end up taking extra food or no food at all. Unexplained pains of the body may be a result of depression, and if not treated, it may be dangerous. Inflammatory conditions such as diabetes and arthritis are also results of depression. Bad sleeping habits are also caused by depression, where one many end up sleeping late and waking up early, and others find it difficult to sleep at all or sleep longer than expected.
When it comes to females, they react differently to depression. The first thing to take into consideration is that most women have a more significant part to play in the community. They take care of their families; place of work is also a priority; they have to be there as their infants as they grow. Famous women have to balance their social life and private life with their families. When they fail to adjust their daily activities, it causes depression. Causes of depression differ depending on the level of responsibility. For women, the significant causes of depression include postpartum depression, pregnancy and infertility, premenstrual problems, and body image issues, among many other causes of depression. Some of the causes of depression may be as a result of internal or external factors; thus, it raises a different level of reaction. Many great women in the world have similar causes of depression, such as body image issues, where some women perform operations to change parts of their bodies, such as skin color.
Based on people’s opinions, money is said to bring happiness. The wealthy and successful people in the world are thought to be happy because they can afford anything they want. The rich buy anything at any price since they do not have to worry about their source of income. Even though money makes people travel to any part of the world and enjoy life, there are some situations that money cannot buy. In the instance of depression, money cannot buy a cure for depression nor prevent depression. The treatment for depression is more of physical activities than cash. Thus when famous people are faced with depression, they may run for specialists to help them curb the situation, which is a good alternative. However, they may end up suffering a lot, trying to find out different solutions for depression. Money builds one physical life in terms of material wealth and getting friends from your circle. There are also instances such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle and close friends that money cannot buy. Depending on cash as an alternative to solve some problems is a waste of time.
Althea Gibson not only had a successful career, but she was also among the famous tennis players of the time. From early in the days, Althea was determined to pursue Tennis.When it came to the court, she could not joke about anything; she played hard and focused. This resulted in her receiving many awards eventually and became famous in the sports field. (Edmondson, 2005) Despite the many good records that Althea Gibson made, she could barely make end meets. Regardless of the many awards and victories, the money she got was never enough. She did a lot of side hustles such as playing golf, touring with Harlem Globetrotters so that she could at least make ends meet. She was from a humble background and brought up many challenges. As she grew up, she learned to fight her own battles; for instance, when she was barely eighteen years, she looked for associations that could support her as she was trained Tennis. After she was eighteen years, she could no longer be supported, and this made her fight through thick and thin to sustain her life. At some point in life, she was depressed, and the only option left was committing suicide. The fear of not knowing what happens next because of a lack of money disturbed Althea Gibson despite the many awards she had received.
Serena Williams is not any different from Althea Gibson since both are famous for Tennis. After Serena Williams’s withdrawal from one of the biggest tournaments she finally decided to open up that she had been facing struggles of depression since she became pregnant. Even after scooping the best position in the Tennis tournament she had to take a break from her sports career. Serena Williams revealed to the public that she had been facing postpartum depression and that she was not a good mum to her daughter Williams, who was barely one year old. She reveals that it all started when she was pregnant, where she experienced lots of blood clots. This resulted to her undergoing lots of surgeries still when she was pregnant . Serena Williams was always worried about whether she could successfully give birth to her kid, and this made her face issues of depression. (Singham, 2019). The good news is that she successfully gave birth to a girl. Once again, she started experiencing depression since she felt she was never present for her young daughter. She went back to play Tennis, which began with a significant drop in her performance, and this made her more worried. Her levels of depression rose because she thought she did not give her girl the attention she needed, and her performance in Tennis was not pleasing.
Althea Gibson and Serena Williams had their ways of dealing with depression as a way of resolving their issues. For Althea Gibson, she had the side hustles that helped her deal with her financial problems. However, it came to a point in life; she became ill of cancer; thus, side hustles became difficult for her to manage. This drained all her finances to the medical expenses, and the only option left was to seek support from her friends and the Tennis organizations.The Tennis team, however, turned a deaf ear, and there are no cases where she was supported by the Tennis club. Althea Gibson getting famous was an advantage for her since she was known not only by the citizens of her country but by prominent leaders across the continents. She made it public that she had cancer, and it resulted in lots of support from the public. She got close to one million dollars for her medical assistance, and this showed that the world was concerned about her. However, after so many struggles in paying the medical bills, Althea Gibson died in 2003. She left a good mark in Tennis and sports in general black athletes have grown since then.
Serena Williams also has a similar way of handling depression. She says that communication is the best way to deal with depression. According to her, she talks to her close relatives and friends about the difficult issues that she is encountering, and the feedback she gets will lower her depression. Serena Williams also reveals to the public of depression and the reasons behind it. The public is also willing to help her deal with depression; for instance, there are some tennis tournaments that she did not attend, and the relevant authorities are well with her decisions. Serena Williams and Althea Gibson are one of the great black women who have set a path for us to follow. Their determination to receive lots and lots of prizes from different championships motivated them to work even much harder. In the court, they worked hard enough to ensure that the opponent did not defeat them. Through their thorough training, they got to receive uncountable awards.
Still, they also faced a similar challenge that is depression; however, the causes for depression were quite different. For Althea Gibson, she met a lot of financial difficulties, even though the Tennis Tournaments paid her. The challenges she faced were not equivalent to the money she earned. Althea Gibson had to do some extra work to satisfy her needs. This, however, was not enough, and this made her more depressed and opting to commit suicide. The same case applies to Serena Williams; she faced a lot of challenges during and after pregnancy; however, talking to her relatives made her feel better. Serena Williams solved her problems by embracing communication. Lastly, Serena Williams and Althea Gibson, being the famous black women they fought depression through talking to their close friends. In instances when we feel low, telling a friend is one of the best solutions because a problem shared is a problem half solved.
Works Cited
- Singham, M. (2019). The Althea Gibson story. [online] Mano Singham. Available at:
https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2019/08/24/the-althea-gibson-story/.
- Coach says Serena Williams was 'depressed' after her stunning loss in the U.S. Open. (2015).
Business Insider. Retrieved 29 February 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/serena-
Williams-depressed-after-us-open-2015-11
- Edmondson, Jacqueline. Venus and Serena Williams: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005.