Some good old sexism by HT as we approach the New Year

Guess what made it to the sports pages of The Hindustan Times today? A story supposedly on the career graphs of two tennis players, Ana Ivanovic and Anna Kournikova. Why this comparison? (Because their names are Anna, duh!) You may think from the headline that the two athletes were selected because they retired when they were young, but keep reading. The article has nothing to do with their game, playing style or professional lives. Instead, it compares their personal lives. There’s even a subhead that screams “RELATIONSHIPS”.

The peg is supposed to be Ivanovic, 29, announcing her retirement from professional tennis earlier this week. She is a former world number one and 2008 French Open Champion but for HT, the chief highlight of her sporting career seems to be her “several high-profile relationships with athletes”. Which the paper gladly lists. As if this wasn’t enough, HT went a step ahead and ran the web version of the story with this headlines:

Not just that, there’s also a photo of Ivanovic wearing “a traditional saree”. What this has to do with Ivanovic’s tennis is anyone’s guess.  

We have no idea how this got approved by the editors of HT to make it to the news pages? Meanwhile, we’ll do what they should have done last night. You’re welcome.