Vickery: "If somebody did do it, it would be very brave and it would really make a bold statement"
Tuesday 16 June 2020 09:58, UK
Sachia Vickery hopes tennis players will be "brave" and take a knee before matches in support of Black Lives Matter.
American player Vickery says the tennis court could be used as a platform to protest police brutality and systemic racism against black people.
The 25-year-old American believes this would be considered as an act of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement which has seen a number of athletes protest since the May 25 killing of George Floyd sparked outrage around the world.
Colin Kaepernick began taking a knee before San Francisco 49ers games in 2016 to draw attention to those same issues.
I'm not sure whether it will happen or not [taking a knee] but I think it will be something that will be very good if it does.
"I was actually surprised because not a lot of tennis players talk about these issues or have posted things [on social] or have supported these kind of things, so I was actually really happy to see that," said Vickery, who reached a career-high No 73 in 2018.
"It's a really tough time in our country and there's a lot of injustice. I definitely think a lot needs to change but I think the higher-ranked players need to continue using their platforms to expose these kinds of things and shed light to them. I think it's been really successful getting people to understand these movements."
Some of tennis' biggest stars joined in with Frances Tiafoe's justice campaign, rackets down, hands up - including Vickery, who said she was proud to take part before discussing whether players will go a step further and take a knee before matches.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. But me personally, I'd like to see it," Vickery said. "If somebody did do it, it would be very brave and it would really make a bold statement. I'm not sure whether it will happen or not but I think it will be something that will be very good if it does."
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