Serena Williams: How I emerged from pit of despair after my sister’s death Matthew Syed, Sports Journalist of the Year The tract is entitled Life in a Peaceful New World and has an illustration on the cover of a mother and daughter in a green, wooded area wreathed in sunshine. Inside it reads: “All the evidence shows that we are nearing the end of man’s tragic experiment in independence from God . . . Only God’s rulership can bring peace, happiness, perfect health and everlasting life.” 有本书的标题叫做"Life in a Peaceful New World" 封面的图是一个妈妈跟女儿在充满阳光的一片绿色森林中 里面说"所有迹象都显示我们越来越靠近人类的远离上帝的可悲实验的结尾 只有上帝的主宰才可能带来和平 快乐 完美的健康 以及永生" Serena Williams has just pulled the leaflet from her large, purple handbag and handed it to me with a warm smile. “As Jehovah’s Witnesses, we believe it’s real important to share the Word of God,” she says. “If I am on a plane or something, I often talk to the person sitting next to me about religion and give them a tract. I always keep a few in my purse because you never know who you might run into.” I take it and promise to read it. Serena Williams带着一个温暖的微笑 从他的紫色大包包拿了一张纸给我 "作为耶和华见证人 我们相信分享上帝的话是非常重要的 如果我在飞机上或其他地方 我常常会跟我旁边的人谈谈宗教 给他们一段小短文 我都会在包包里面放一些 因为你不知道你会遇到谁" 我收了起来 并且保证会读他给的纸 I am sitting with Williams on a soft couch in the Ritz-Carlton hotel, Doha. Williams is here to play in the end-of-season Sony Ericsson Championships, which start on Tuesday. 我在Doha的Ritz-Carlton饭店采访Serena 他来这里参加星期二开打的年终赛 As she speaks, she is the world No 1 after a year in which she has won two grand-slam singles titles, including Wimbledon, to take her overall tally to 11. But on Monday she was overtaken again by Dinara Safina, of Russia. The margin between them is so tight that whoever performs better at this week’s tournament will finish the year at the head of the rankings. 他今年拿了包括温网的两项大满贯 让他的大满贯总数达到11 但星期一他的世界排名被Dinara Safina超过 他们之间的差距很小 所以只要他们本周谁表现比较好 谁就会拿到年终第一 I express my surprise at the importance of religion in her life. “You know, that was the No 1 thing in our lives growing up, even more important than tennis,” Williams says. “My mom is a really strong Jehovah’s Witness and my dad, although he’s not practising, made sure we went to Kingdom Hall every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. We always sat in the third row and never missed a service. Even today, it’s more important to me than anything else. My faith gives me balance and perspective.” 我向他表示了我对信仰在他生活中扮演的重要性感到讶异 他说"这是我们从小到大生活中最重要的事情 比网球还重要 我妈是个虔诚的耶和华见证人 我爸爸虽然没做礼拜 但是他会确保我们每个星期二.四.日都去Kingdom Hall做礼拜 我们总是坐在第三排 永远不会错过 即使到了今天 这还是我生活中最重要的事 我的信仰给了我生活的平衡与展望" It has also seen her through some dark moments. Like the time she was jeered by a baying crowd of 14,000 in the final in Indian Wells in 2001, some spectators shouting “n****r” at a girl still in her teens. The reason? Her sister, Venus, had withdrawn from a semi-final against Serena because of injury. The announcement was belated and many disgruntled fans had already gathered in the stadium. By the time Serena played the final, they had not forgiven the Williams family. 我们也曾看到他经历一些痛苦时刻 像是他2001在Indian Wells的决赛 全场一万四千名观众都在嘘他 有些甚至骂他是黑鬼 他那时只是一个青少女 原因只不过是他的姐姐Venus在四强赛前退赛 而在观众进场之後赛会才宣布 当Serena进行决赛时 所有观众都不肯原谅威家 “I still find it difficult to believe what happened,” she says. “I was just a kid going out there to play a match [against Kim Clijsters, of Belgium] and people were shouting things like, ‘Go home to Compton’ just because Venus had withdrawn. I cried into my towel on one of the change-overs in the second set and just asked God to get me through the match. I didn’t even care if I won or lost.” "我还是很难相信所有发生的事情 我当时还不过只是个出场比赛的孩子 但是人们对着我吼'滚回Compton吧'只不过因为Venus的退赛 我在第二盘换场时捂着毛巾哭了 我只希望上帝能帮助我通过这场比赛 我甚至不在乎输或赢" Was there a racist component to the abuse? “There must have been when you think of the things they were shouting. It was all so unfair,” she says. “ It really got to me. But then I thought, ‘Be tough, be strong, don’t let them destroy you’, and suddenly I had this really strong mental image of God protecting me. It was like he was out there with me, shepherding me through the rest of the match.” 有种族歧视成分吗? "如果你听听他们吼的话 绝对有歧视 真的很不公平 这些真的影响了我 但我接着想'坚强点 别让他们摧毁了你' 突然间我真的在心里感受到上帝的形象在保护着我 就像他在我身边一样 陪我撑过了这场比赛" Despite a torrid opening, Williams won in three sets. But it was what happened in the aftermath that is so deeply emblematic of this strong, passionate and extraordinary woman. 虽然开场非常糟糕 他还是三盘赢下比赛 这就是发生在这个坚强 热情的女人身上的事 Interviewed on court, she first thanked her family and the sprinkling of spectators who had cheered for her. Then she said: “And to those of you who didn’t support me, I love you anyway.” For a 19-year-old who had just wept on court because of the unrelenting abuse, it spoke eloquently of deep resolve and big-heartedness. “Yes, I guess it took a lot to rise above all that negativity,” she says. “But that is the strength you get when you have been through so much to get to the top.” 在场边接受访问时 他首先感谢他的家庭 还有一直支持他的球迷 然後他说"对那些不支持我的人 不管怎样我也爱你们" 对於一个刚在场上哭泣的十九岁女孩而言 面对这些无情的羞辱 他还能说出如此宽容的话 "我想能通过所有负面的事很辛苦 但这是一种当你闯过所有一切後站上高峰就能拥有的力量" Williams was brought up in the Compton area of Los Angeles, one of the most violent neighbourhoods in the United States, along with two sisters from her mother’s previous relationship and two full sisters, including Venus. She shared a single bedroom with her four siblings, but with only two bunks in the room she had no bed of her own. Serena在LA的Compton长大 Compton是美国最充满暴力的社区之一 他跟着四个姊姊长大 包括Venus 五姐妹一起用同个卧室 在这个两层的房子中没有他自己的床 “Isha and Yetunde [her two oldest sisters] had the two beds on top and Lyn and Venus the two down below. I had to sleep with a different sister each night, sort of alternating between their beds. "Isha跟Yetunde睡上舖 Lyn跟Venus睡在下舖 我每天晚上都跟不同的姐姐睡 挤在他们中间" “But I didn’t see it as a negative. To be honest, I felt lucky because it gave me a chance to get real close to each of my sisters.” "但我真的不觉得这是坏事 我反而觉得很幸运 因为这给了我很多机会跟姊姊们亲近" Williams started playing tennis, along with her sisters, at the age of 3 after her dad watched a match on television and heard the commentator saying that one of the players had earned $40,000 (now about ￡24,000) in a week — more than he earned in a year. He and Oracene, Venus and Serena’s mother, decided that they would teach themselves to play so that they could nurture their daughters into champions. 在威爸从电视上看了场网球比赛 听到球评说一周内奖金就赚了四万元 比他赚的一年还多 他跟威妈决定一起教女儿们打球 让他们成为网球冠军 从此之後 Serena三岁起就跟着姊姊们一起打网球 They played on the public courts at a nearby park and often had to clear broken bottles and fast-food wrappers before they could start hitting. But they never missed practice. “We played all the time,” Serena says. “We would sometimes hear guns going off from drive-by shootings in the neighbourhood, but we just kept going.” 他们在附近公园的公共球场打球 常常得清理周围的破瓶子或是速食垃圾 才能开始练习 但是他们从来不会错过练习时间 "我们一直都在打 我们有时甚至听的到枪声 但还是继续打球" Was it tough to play so much tennis as a young child? “Sometimes it was a grind, but mostly it was fun,” she says. “Dad was so clever at turning the practice sessions into things we enjoyed, introducing competitive elements and stuff. He also helped us to understand that there is no short cut to success and that you have to work super-hard if you are going to make it. 在年纪这麽小就要打这麽多球很困难吗? "有时候是种折磨 但大多时间都很开心 我爸很聪明 他都会把训练弄得很好玩 像是加入竞争的元素 他也帮助我们了解成功没有捷径 要超级努力才可以达到目标" “It also helped having Venus as an older sister. She was such a great player and a fantastic role model and I was in her shadow a whole lot growing up. The Bible talks of two kinds of jealousy, a good jealousy and a bad jealousy. I think I had a healthy jealousy of Venus. I wanted what she had, but I didn’t want to take it away from her. I just wanted to work hard to reach the place she had reached.” "有Venus这样的姊姊帮助也很大 他是个伟大的球员 也是很棒的榜样 小时候我总是生活在他的阴影 圣经上有谈到两种嫉妒 好的嫉妒跟坏的嫉妒 我想我对Venus的嫉妒是健康的 我想要有他拥有的 但我并不想从她身边抢走 我只想努力达到他的地位" Williams, 28, is an enchanting mixture of earnestness, frivolity and warmth. Her eyes are wide and welcoming and her boundless humanity shines through in every answer. Every now and again, she bursts into a fit of giggles, her eyes watering with mirth, and then, moments later, when the conversation has moved on, she takes on a look of almost comical seriousness. She is at once innocent and savvy; a fighter and a pushover; sexual and coy. Serena已经二十八岁 是个迷人的认真.率性.温暖的混合体 他的眼神广阔且热情 他无边无际的人格特质也在每个答案中闪烁着 接下来 他有各式各样的反应 喀喀的笑 或是笑出了泪 接下来的对话他看起来非常的认真 The watershed moment in her life occurred on September 14, 2003, when Yetunde, her eldest sister, was murdered in Los Angeles. It happened when Williams was in Toronto for a television show and would eventually plunge her into deep depression. Waking in despair each day, she plummeted down the rankings, reaching a low of 140, a personal and emotional nadir that makes her renaissance all the more extraordinary. 有个充满泪水的事件发生在2003年九月十四日 他的姐姐Yetunde在LA遇害 当时Serena在多伦多拍摄电视剧 接下来这个事件让她陷入悲伤 他的排名也逐渐下滑 甚至跌到140名 那是他个人的最低潮 让他的重生看起来如此可贵 “I still find it difficult to talk about what happened with Tunde,” Williams says. “She was nine years older than me and was like a second mother. She called me ‘kid’ and took me clothes shopping and stuff. I could be kind of naughty growing up, but she was always so forgiving, just smiling and putting her arm around me. Even after we moved to Florida we saw each other a lot. She was personal assistant to Venus and me for a time.” "我还是觉得要谈Tunde的事情很困难 他比我年长九岁 就像另一个妈妈一样 他总是叫我kid 带我去买衣服之类的 我小时候很淘气 但他总是会原谅我 他总是微笑 双手抱着我 在我们搬到佛州之後 我们常常见面 他那时候还是我跟Venus的私人助理" Yetunde was killed in a drive-by shooting of the kind that Serena had heard reverberating around the neighbourhood when playing on those public courts in Compton. Her sister had been out with her new boyfriend, a gang member, when someone started firing into the car. The bullets were meant for him. Yetunde was 31. Yetunde是在开车时被枪杀的 就像Serena所回忆的公共球场所听到的枪声 他的姐姐当时跟她男朋友出去 後来有人开始打他们的车 子弹本来是对着她男友的 最後打中了他 他才31岁 “I was sharing a room with Lyn [her sister] in Toronto when I found out,” Williams says. “We just couldn’t take it in. I had been talking to Tunde on the phone earlier that day and she had been real excited about what was going on in her life, and mine. I just couldn’t make sense of it. It was like something out of a dream. "我听到消息的当下跟Lyn住在同间房间 我们完全不能接受 我稍早才刚刚跟Tunde聊拓 他对於接下来的生活这麽兴奋 我真的不能接受 那种感觉像是个梦一样" “I took a little time off from tennis, but then I threw myself back into it. I think that happens when people face tragedy: either they plunge themselves into their jobs to take their minds off what has happened, or they grieve properly. I didn’t grieve properly.” 我花了一段时间远离网球 接下来我又重新投入 我想人们碰到悲剧时总会这麽做 让自己投入到工作中忘记发生的事 或是让自己深陷悲伤 我没有选择後者 Two years later, Williams ground to a halt, the emotional trauma finally catching up with her. “I needed to take time out from tennis because I had an injury to my leg and had all sorts of emotional and spiritual wounds,” she says. “I started to see a therapist because I was in a bad place and needed to talk things through. After a while, I started getting my energy back again. God helped with that.” 两年後 Serena暂停了脚步 他内心的创伤最终战胜了他 "我当时需要一段时间远离网球 因为我脚有伤 而且还有许多情绪上 精神上的创伤 我开始去找谘商师 因为我的处境很糟 我需要谈谈发生的事情 过了一阵子 我又开始找回我的能量 上帝帮助了我" So, too, did Africa. Williams took a long trip to Ghana and Senegal in 2006, taking tennis clinics and giving out polio vaccines before heading to the coast to see the slave castles. “These were where they held the slaves before shipping them to America,” she says. “It was unbelievable to think that my ancestors had endured such suffering before they even got to America and were put into bondage . . . it put things in perspective, but it also made me think. If my people could endure that kind of suffering, I could endure anything.” Serena也去了非洲 他在2006去了迦纳跟塞内加尔 办了一个网球营 也参观了从前关奴隶的城堡 "他们告诉我这就是要送去美国的奴隶被关的地方 去想自己的祖先是承受了多少痛苦才能到美国去做奴隶 让我开始思考如果他们能忍受他们所受的痛苦 我也可以忍受所有事" Energised like never before, Williams flew to Australia to play in the first grand-slam tournament of 2007. She was ranked No 81, unseeded, and many pundits had written her off, including Chris Evert, who had written an open letter in Tennis magazine criticising Williams for her outside interests, such as fashion design. “You are tarnishing your legacy,” Evert wrote. 在去澳洲参加2007澳网前 Serena感到一股前所未有的活力 他排名只有81 非种子 很多球评都看低她 甚至是Chris Evert都写了一封公开信 指责场外兴趣太多 例如时装设计 "你正在玷污你的传奇性" Williams was also a few pounds heavier than normal, something picked up on by the Australian press. “I never really read the newspapers, but I couldn’t really avoid what they were saying about me,” she says. “One of them called me a ‘fat cow’. I was like, ‘Is this for real?’ It wasn’t easy. Serena也比之前多了几磅重 被澳洲的媒体报导 "所从来没有真的去读报纸 但我也不能完全躲避别人对我的评论 其中一家报纸说我是肥牛 我心里想'这是真的吗?' 这对我真的很不简单" “Even now I have days when I look in the mirror and go, ‘Wow! I need to lose weight here and I need to lose weight there.’ But I know that I am never going to be a size two. I am curvy: I have big boobs and a big butt. I guess that is attractive to some guys. But it’s tough when you read people being so personal about the way you look.” "即使现在我看镜子 有时候我还是会想'哇 我还需要再减肥 我这里应该瘦 那里应该瘦' 但我知道我从来都不是二号size的人 我的曲线突出 我有大咪咪 也有大屁股 我想对某些人可能很有吸引力 但是当读到别人怎麽针对你个人的外观评论还是很困难" True to character, Williams rose above the negativity, racing through the rounds before powering her way through Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2 in the final. It rates as one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of women’ s tennis. “It was pretty unbelievable,” she agrees, beaming. “And you know what? It felt great.” Since then, Williams has won three further grand-slam singles titles. 接下来Serena从所有负面中再度挺起 一轮一轮的闯过 最後在决赛6-1 6-2打败Maria Sharapova 被评为女网史上最惊人的复出之一 "我觉得真的真很不可思议 感觉真是棒透了" 接下来他又拿了三个大满贯 Her only serious recent setback occurred at this year’s US Open, when she was foot-faulted on a second serve when two points from defeat in her semi-final against Clijsters. Williams exploded in a fit of rage, cursing at the lineswoman and being penalised a point, handing the match to her opponent. 他最近发生的严重事件是今年美网 他在距离输球两分的时候在二发被判脚误 Serena情绪爆炸了 甚至诅咒线审 最後被罚分送给对手胜利 “It was out of character and I really regret it,” she says. “I am a passionate person and I just lost it because it was an iffy call at a key moment. I wrote the line judge a really long letter of apology and she understood.” "我那时候脱轨了 我真的很後悔 我是一个很情绪化的人 因为关键时刻的一个不确定的判决 所以我失控了 我後来写了一封很长的道歉信给线审 而他也表示理解了" I ask about her love life. Do you have a boyfriend? “I always say I am dating my racket because I spend so much time playing tennis that I don’t have much time for anything else,” she says, giggling. “Besides, I am a psycho when it comes to dating. Like if a guy doesn’t call me when he says he is going to call me, I get all emotional. I guess that is because of what happened with So and So.” 关於他的私生活 他有男朋友吗? "我总是跟别人说我正在跟我的球拍约会 因为我花了好多时间打网球 我没有什麽时间做其他事 除此之外约会的时候我也像个精神病患一样 例如如果他说要打给我但是没打来 我就会开始情绪反应很大 我想都是因为跟某某某之前的经历" So and So? That’s Williams’s name for her first boyfriend — she refuses to say his real name because a friend told her that it is easier to get through a bad break-up if you don’t speak your ex’s name. 某某某? 这是Serena称呼她初恋男友的名字 他不肯说出真名 因为他的朋友跟他说不要讲出前男友的名字 这样会比较好从失恋中疗伤 An American footballer, So and So finished their budding relationship in 2001 when he simply stopped taking her calls. They had just spent two weeks in each other’s company after 9/11 and Williams had fallen deeply in love, but he pulled the plug without even bothering to explain why. 一个足球选手跟他在2001结束关系 他停止跟他通话 他们在911後花了两个礼拜在一起 Serena觉得自己已经身陷爱中 但他中断了他们的关系 甚至不愿意解释为什麽 “I suffered a lot when that happened,” she says. “I just couldn’t understand why he was so cruel. I think my run of grand-slam titles [she won four in a row between 2002 and 2003] was partly about showing him that I didn ’t need him to get on with my life.” Are you over him now? “Oh, God yeah. But I think it is because of what happened with him that I still have trust issues with guys.” "发生这件事情的时候我觉得很难受 我不能理解为什麽他这麽残忍 我想我连续在大满贯的夺冠某部份来说是为了给他看我不需要他也可以活的很好" 完全复元了吗? "噢 我想因为跟他发生的事 让我现在对男人还是有信赖方面的问题" After the interview, we play a friendly game of table tennis. Williams takes to it fast and shows her competitive edge, refusing to stop until she has returned one of my spin serves. After the session she leans forward to kiss my cheek and offer a hug. 访问过後我们打了场桌球 Serena很快就赢了 展现他其他的竞争力 直到他回了我一个很旋的发球才肯停止 之後我们吻颊并拥抱 “You want to know my message to people?” she says. “If you want to achieve your dreams, you gotta work real hard. There’s no lottery ticket to success. Sure, sometimes you fall down — and I have fallen an awful lot. "你想知道我想告诉人们的话吗? 如果你想要达到你的梦想 你得真的很努力 成功没有乐透彩券 有时候你会遇到低潮 像我就曾经落到一个痛苦的境地" “But then you have to live the words of Muhammad Ali: ‘Being a champion isn ’t about what you do when you are on top; it’s about what you do when you are knocked down.’ ” "但就像Muhammad Ali说的 '做一个冠军不在於你巅峰时期你能做的多好 而是在你面对谷底的时候能做什麽'" -- --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.120.231.132 ※ 编辑: VWilliams 来自: 140.120.231.132 (10/30 01:13)