Eugenie Bouchard And Serena Williams Asked To 'Twirl' At Australian Open | HuffPost Life

Male TV Presenter Asks Female Tennis Star To Twirl, Twitter Brands Him A Sexist Bozo

Rachel Moss— The Huffington Post UK

Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard cruised into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday, but that wasn't important to one TV presenter.

The sexist male in question wasn't interested in talking tactics or training regimes. Instead, he thought it was more appropriate to focus on how Bouchard looked in her tennis dress.

During an on-court interview, Channel 7 interviewer Ian Cohen asked the 20-year-old Quebec tennis player: "Can you give us a twirl?"

An embarrassed Bouchard replied with, "A twirl?," and the presenter went on to explain, “A twirl, like a pirouette, here you go.”

Bouchard awkwardly did a twirl, then buried her face into her hands and laughed.

“It was very unexpected,” Bouchard said after the incident. “I don’t know, an old guy asking you to twirl. It was funny.”

On Tuesday, Cohen reportedly made a similar request of Serena Williams.

Speaking to The Guardian, Williams said: "A commentator asked me to twirl. I wouldn’t ask Rafa or Roger to twirl. Whether it’s sexist or not, I don’t know. I can’t answer that.

“I didn’t really want to twirl because I was just like, you know, I don’t need all the extra attention. But, yeah, it was fine.

“I don’t think and look that deep into it. Life is far too short to focus on that. We have so many other problems we want to deal with that we should focus on. Whether I twirl or not, it’s not the end of the world. It’s about being positive and just moving forward.”

Many on Twitter have labelled Cohen's request for a twirl as sexist...

...and we have to agree. It's hard to imagine a presenter focussing on the "prettiness" of a male athlete in the same way.

The comments come after UK number one Heather Watson attributed her defeat in the first round of the Australian Open this week to her period.

Watson's comments sparked debate about issues facing women in sport that are seldom spoken about by committees.

Currently tennis players can only take a toilet break once a set. Tara Moore, the current British number five, said she thinks committees need to re-think this rule for women, as it can be particularly stressful if you're on your period and a set lasts four hours.

It seems like we seriously need to talk about how women in sport are treated across the board.

8 Inspirational Women In Sport

Sarah Attar, Saudi Arabian athlete(01 of08)

Her position in the women's 800m heats may have been a distant last but it was a 'first' that prompted a standing ovation from the crowd. Atturst bravely challenged the social conventions of her country to become the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in the Olympic track and field. So while Sarah Attar didn't win a medal, she did realise her dream - to represent the women of her country and inspire them to embrace sport.She said: "For women in Saudi Arabia, I think this can really spark something to get more involved in sports, to become more athletic," she said. "Maybe in the next Olympics, we can have a very strong team to come."Atturst, along with judo competitor, Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, were the first Saudi Arabian women to attend the Olympics.The decision was a last-minute one following pressure from the International Olympic Committee. (credit:PA)

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Campaigner (02 of08)

Former Paralympian medalist, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, 43, is world-renowned for her tireless campaigning for disabled sport as well as women's sport.Born with spina bifida, the former athlete was enobled in 2010, after winning 11 gold medals across five consecutive Paralympics Games.Since retiring from sport, Grey-Thompson is busier than ever - she is a TV broadcaster, politician, sits on the board for London Transport and the London Marathon and is the patron for numerous charities. She is never afraid to speak out on what she believes in. Most recently, in May 2013, she told the House of Commons Education Committee that the Government did not take sport seriously and that many disabled children were still “sent to the library” during PE lessons because “teachers don’t feel equipped or able, in many cases to integrate them properly into lessons.”“We are trying to save money because of tough economic times. The obesity bill is just going to keep rising, welfare benefits will just keep rising and, actually, sport [and] physical activity can do an awful lot to challenge and help those things.” (credit:Getty Images)

Clare Balding, Broadcaster & Writer(03 of08)

Clare Balding's incredible coverage of London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics cemented her status as a national treasure and earned her a BAFTA Special Award. It also helped to raise the profile of women in sport as well as women in the media.Balding, whose passion for sport is in her genes (her father is the Queen's former horse trainer), has a particular passion for women's sport and in her frequent interviews in the media, she never misses an opportunity to campaign for gender equality.Not surprisingly, Balding was given an OBE in June this year. (credit:Alamy)

Marion Bartoli, Wimbledon Champion(04 of08)

Unfortunately, Marion Bartoli's impressive victory in the 2013 Wimbledon final - in which she didn't drop a set against Germany's Sabine Lasicki - was somewhat overshadowed by *those* sexist remarks from John Inverdale and a few ignorant souls on Twitter.The fiasco has forced the world to open its eyes to the sexism that women still have to contend with. Meanwhile, Bartoli's dignified and magnanimous reaction has cast her as not only a sporting champion but an admirable role model. (credit:Alamy)

Jessica Ennis-Hill, Olympic Heptathlete(05 of08)

Labelled the poster girl of 2012, Jessica Ennis’ 'girl-next-door to Olympic gold-medalist' fairytale has given a nation of schoolgirls a reason to believe that dreams really can come true.Smashing her personal best, beating her competitors by hundreds of points and scooping the gold medal for the heptathlon, Ennis-Hill, has a great deal to be proud of. But it is her status as a role model that seems to give the athlete her greatest sense of achievement.Recognising the importance of such role models, she said after the Olympics: “You can have lots of regulations and lots of information booklets, to get females involved in sport. But if you want girls to play sport, you have to give them role models.” However she is also aware of the obstacles: “The problem with the traditional non-sporting women in the media is that most of them are size zero. You can’t be a fit, healthy sportswoman – out there beating your rivals – if you’re size zero.“It’s hard to change but it would happen if more sportswomen were in the media, and if more coaches were women, more influential sports figures were women.” (credit:Alamy)

Sue Tibballs, CEO, Women's Sport And Fitness Foundation(06 of08)

Tibballs, a tireless campaigner for gender equality. As the Chair of the Women's Sport And Fitness Foundation, Tibballs aim is to create a nation of active women. Her latest campaign is to target the issue around women and fitness at grass-roots level by recruiting 25 schools for an in-depth analysis of how schools engage with girls to deliver physical education and to establish the perfect model.Tiball believes that body confidence is the biggest obstacle for women and sport. She told HuffPost Lifestyle: "The relationship women have with their bodies and the confidence surrounding that is the last step of women's liberation".She believe that "girls need to own their bodies and move their bodies" and have the confidence to get involved with sport. That involves removing the negative perceptions around exercise and fitness for girls. And she believes a crucial part of that is a greater exposure to sporting role models in the media. (credit:PA)

Hope Powell, England Women's National Coach(07 of08)

Growing up in South-East London in the 1970s, in a world there was no place for women in football, Hope Powell stuck by her guns and challenged conventions, determined to realise her dreams.While studying to be a football coach, she knew she had a greater challenge ahead than the rest of her classmates but she wasn't deterred: "On the course I was the only female, the only black female and there I was with these guys from the professional world of football. I probably worked harder than everyone else; in that situation you’ve got more to prove."But prove herself she did. Though "disgusted" that she was unable to play football professionally in this country, she has forged an alternative career in football as the England Women's National Coach and the Team GB Olympic football team.She is currently leading the England team in the Women's Euro 2013.In 2003 Powell became the first woman to achieve the UEFA Pro Licence—the highest coaching award available. (credit:PA)

Nicola Adams, Boxing Champion(08 of08)

Nicola Adams became the first ever Olympic boxing champion when she scooped the gold for Team GB in 2012.Proving that boxing is every bit a woman's game, the champion's victory has caused a dramatic surge of interest in female boxing.Sport England figures show that before last summer's Games, where women's boxing was included for the first time, there were 19,600 females boxing once a week, compared with 35,100 now - an increase of 79%. (credit:Alamy)

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