Hit Me Up

19 Dec 2024

Interview with Karolina Czyż about LGBTQ tennis in Poland (with full transcript)

Sexuality, Society & Culture, Sports & Recreation

LISTEN TO PODCAST NOW

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:41 — 51.8MB)

Subscribe or Follow Us: RSS

Interview with Karolina Czyż about LGBTQ tennis in Poland (with full transcript)

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos speaks with Karolina Czyż from Poland who is on a mission to encourage Polish lesbians to play more tennis and enter tournaments in Poland and through Europe and how through tennis you can meet the love of your life.

Gaybledon Championship Tour

“morewomen@GLTAtournaments”

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Host: Demetra Giannakopoulos (DG): We have a very special guest on Hit Me Up! We have an international guest and her name is Karolina Czyż and Karolina is from Poland. Absolutely loves her tennis. Karolina welcome to Hit me Up on Joy 94.9.

Guest: Karolina Czyż (KC): Hello. Hello, everybody. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah, my name is Karolina Czyż and I live in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. I was born here in 1977. I was attending, tennis academy, as a kid being eight and 13 years old, and then stopped playing and returned to tennis in 2021. So having 44 years.

So I had, around 30 years of break, and I was studying psychology. But I work, for a corporation in financial reporting.

DG: Why we’re talking to you is because you are really getting involved in encouraging people to take part in the GLTA tour. So, what tournaments have you played in the GLTA tour?

KC: I played already, ten GLTA tournaments. My first one, was in Poland in June 2023. It was in Poznan Summer vibes. That’s the name of the tournament. AND last one, was in August this year in Zurich in Switzerland. And on my first, tournament in Poznan, I played together with guys because there were not enough woman to create a separate woman draws.

And I came there with my rainbow tennis friends from my hometown Warsaw. And she took her wife and a dog, and I took my girlfriend, and we all came very curious to check how is it to play on the biggest rainbow tour in the world with all these guys from abroad? Is it all worth so much money to pay?

And turns out the atmosphere was great. Guys were very welcoming. It was super funny. And finally, I could feel it’s my kind of space where I can fully relax and meet others from my favourite rainbow and tennis bubbles. And it was really worth every dollar spent there. I admit, that before, I never paid so much for any tennis tournament.

As usually I played only on our tournaments in my hometown, which, costs, like, 1 or 2 [word]. So that was, something a big leap for me. It was really great.

DG: Tell us which tournaments you’ve play because you’ve played quite a lot of tournaments.

KC: Yeah. So all of them were, were in Europe because of the costs. And I’ve chosen the ones, where I could play in separate woman draws. Okay. Because we have tournaments, like, almost every weekend, I think. But, not all of them offer separate draws for woman. Last year, in 2023, when I started with GLTA, there were three tournaments, two of them in Poland, because I decided I would play in every tournament in Poland.

That was Poznan Summer Vibes and in Katowice.

DG: That’s a great name for a tournament, summer vibes. So in Australia we’re just coming into summer and we’re starting to feel the summer vibes.

KC: Yeah. And I can tell you that guys, created even a song. Summer Vibes. So we, had, our own, anthem for, for this particular tournament because of artificial intelligence. Now you can just ask it to create a song, you know, from over give, tennis, LGBT, summer vibes and so on. So we had this song playing all the time during the tournament.

It was really nice. Guys are very creative.

DG: Oh, that is fantastic, I love it.

KC: And, first tournament, last, last year was in Bern in Switzerland. That was my first tournament abroad. That was Euro games. So European Championships. And this year I decided that I will take part in as many as possible. I will set seven tournaments. So first I started with the biggest lesbian tournament in Netherlands, in Amstelveen, Dutch lesbian open.

Yeah. Then the second one only for, lesbians it was in Spain on Gran Canaria. Woman. Sunshine Open Gran Canaria. Later I visited Amsterdam in Netherlands on the oldest, LGBT tournament in Europe, Pinkster. Later I came again to Poznan Summer Vibes. Then I went to Eurogames in Vienna, Austria. Later to London. In the UK to play on the grass. My first, no, my second time playing on grass, because in Poland it’s not popular. Yeah. Yeah. Playing on grass on Wimbledon related courts. It was something very special.

DG: Oh, how amazing was that? The practise courts for Wimbledon?

KC: Yeah, I and I think some, matches, normal matches also were played over there.

DG: How incredible . How did you find playing on grass? Because in Poland. Is it is it clay in Poland?

KC: Yeah. Mostly we use clay. We have like maybe two venues in Poland. We have grass. It’s very rare. Yes. Very expensive. And I think playing on grass is really special. I like it, it’s so.

Quiet. Soft.

DG: Compared to, compared to clay. It’s very quick.

KC: Yeah, it’s also.

Quick but I like it. It. Well yeah. If I could choose I would play on grass most time.

DG: That’s amazing because Iga Światek of course Polish champion, amazing player, hates grass.

KC: Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. But hopefully someday she will gain something.

DG: Let’s see. Yeah.

KC: So after, grass in London, my last was in Zurich on clay.

DG: Wonderful. And, so I’m in the GLTA is the Rainbow Tour, world tour. How did you find out about it?

KC: Maybe I give you a longer story here. Interesting for everybody. When I restarted playing tennis after my very long break, I signed up to play, matches in the biggest amateur tennis league in Warsaw. And then I decided to wear, rainbow sweatbands on my head, on my, hands and head, because I wanted to normalize the fact that LGBT people are, all around.

And I wanted to let, my opponents or double partners know that they play with a lesbian. Because I believed in the power of social campaigns. And we had such campaign, run by our LGBT organization here in Poland under the name. “Let them see us.”

DG: Wow. That’s powerful.

KC: Yeah. There were posters all around, the town with, queer persons holding hands. So all the passers by, can see that we exist, and we look like normal people.

DG: (laughter) And what? We’re normal? We’re actually normal?

KC: And not some monster or clowns. Yeah.

So I wanted to do the same on the tennis courts and, in, 2022, I met, a pair of girls, on the court who started chatting with me about this rainbow sweatbands and they told me that they have a friend who is traveling around Europe, and he’s playing on GLTA tournaments. That’s the first time I heard about GLTA.

And I asked, them, to meet him so he can tell me everything about it. And, talking with him, I learned that, unfortunately, are very, little women, not too many women playing, and that costs are very high comparing to the average Polish salary. So when I decided that, okay, I will just focus on finding other woman rainbow players here in Poland, and I will try to gather them and organize rainbow tournaments here.

And I kind of forgot about all this GLTA and I set up a Facebook page for Polish Rainbow Players and started advertising, our group within our Polish tennis community and, very soon, one club suddenly offered to host Rainbow Tournament in Warsaw. And to be honest, it was the first time ever that it was propositioned to have open, public, LGBT tournaments.

DG: Amazing. That’s amazing. Karolina. That’s incredible

KC: because we had before such tournaments, but they were like, hidden. You know, we were telling just friends to friends. No. Public advertisement, it’s rainbow or LGBT. So guys were hiding, for their own safety, right?

DG: So, yeah, I mean, this has been the situation in Australia as well in the past, for sure.

KC: Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I think we all can understand. Yeah. Why and how it is.

So I was super excited that suddenly one club is happy to give space, for openly LGBT tournaments and is not afraid of any repercussions. And we started to organize it. And in the meantime, some other, colleague who also was playing on GLTA tour, he posted on, my group an article from GLTA website about first tournament for lesbians taking place in Amstelveen, the Dutch Lesbian Open.

Yeah. And of course, I immediately, read the article, and I, stirred and, and the photo in this article, there was a bunch of lesbians. And later I learned it was from Zurich Rainbow Open, from the previous year. And I stared and I immediately knew, I want to join them as soon as possible.

There were so many of them, and I could relate so well, but I was just too shy to to go on my own, knowing nobody. And I calculated all costs involved in going there. And unfortunately, it was very expensive comparing to the costs of playing in any normal tennis tournament in Warsaw.

Because normally we pay just around $25 and we have the whole day of playing with other girls and going to Amsterdam. Mean paying, around $1,000, because all the flight tickets, accommodation, tournaments, players party, local transport, food, drinks, etcetera. So, I didn’t find anybody willing to go there, with me, but I promised to myself that I will go there and next time, I just need to start, slowly. And first, I will play some GLTA tournaments in Poland. So I get to know, people and everything how it’s going before I invest more in some big trip abroad just to play some, some hours of tennis. Right.

DG: That’s fair enough. And, I’m glad that you’re raising the cost of attending tournaments, especially if they’re, overseas or for Australia, I mean, interstate, it’s kind of the same thing in a way that it is a very expensive to travel by, by plane, interstate and accommodation, etc. all the things that you said. I think that’s an important thing to raise.

I’m not sure we’re going to get into social political issues here now, Karolina or I’m sorry about this.

Yeah, I think I think we’ll in Australia for sure. And I think worldwide women are not paid as much as men. I don’t think there’s maybe in the Scandinavian countries it’s close. But no one’s going to argue that that women get paid the same as men. What that then leads to is exactly this. And that we miss out on being able to easily take part in these really wonderful opportunities. I don’t know if there’s a solution yet or if you have some ideas of a solution, for that.

KC: Probably no magic solutions. But, what we are thinking about is getting sponsors, for our tournaments and also, having, solidarity funds because some of our tournaments like, Eurogames, Gay Games or this Pinkster the oldest LGBT tournament in Europe, all of them have, solidarity programs. So people just pay some small amounts, small or bigger as they wish, as they can, to special fund.

It’s totally voluntary. Nobody is obliged to do that. And they know that this money, are going to support people, players, fellow players who cannot otherwise afford to come to the tournament. I was using, this kind of help. I’m very grateful for that. And, I’m also happy to, to give some of my money to, to help others.

Because there is a power of, you know, so many people giving small amounts. It’s makes a bigger fund and somebody can use it. And I think it’s worth doing that. And besides, I’m thinking that we should, yeah, get more, sponsors, you know, because generally, as sports should be, it’s okay, it’s sponsored because, you know, governments also sponsor, sports sides and finance it because it’s so good for our health of citizens.

DG: So, sure

KC: I’m very supportive. If money for sports, it’s not just, I don’t know, a party for us.

DG: Well, it’s connection.

KC: But there is a connection.

Yeah, yeah, sport the physical and mental benefits. But the connection of, I mean, such an important part of being human and being a healthy human is finding community, finding people who we can relate with. And I mean, if we’re whatever our sport is, our sport happens to be tennis and this is what really I love to explore in this show is that, yes, tennis is a sport and has all its aspects of being a sport, but it’s also a way of people connecting with each other and our community our LGBT community is a community there’s not many of us, so any opportunity that we can find others to connect with, I think is a wonderful thing.

KC: Yes.

DG: Yeah. I mean you’ve already talked about this where your trying to encourage more Polish LGBTQ people to play tennis. How are you doing that?

KC: I think the most important is just spreading around information that we exist, that we have rainbow players and we like to play together on, rainbow tournaments. That we would like to combine tennis with socializing. Of course, I know some rainbow players who are not interested at all in any socialising. And I just want to play tennis in, like normal tournaments. It’s okay for me. But also, I know a lot of rainbow players who are so happy that they, got they know somewhere that we exist and they can join, where they are craving for such community. And of course, we need to organize such rainbow tournaments, and make them attractive for people.

I think, when I was younger and such community was existing, then I would certainly come back, much earlier to playing tennis, because I was always looking for lesbian sport groups, to join them for the emotional support, that I needed. So it wasn’t there was no tennis groups like that before I joined what existed. That was football and basketball Queer, groups. So when I finally returned to tennis and, still couldn’t find any such group, I just, you know, decided to to, to create something like that around me. And I was giving, advertisements, all around. So in social media on Pride marches like, on every Pride march, I was going with a big poster on the cardboard, wearing, tennis outfit on every Facebook group for tennis player we have a lot of them in Poland. That’s the, our main, way of communicating with each other. I was giving posts about that. We exist and if you are interested, please join and contact me. Yeah. And this way I I gather people spreading the news.

DG: Oh, fantastic. A lot of, effort and reaching out to where our community is to tell them about what what you are doing and gathering up all the lesbian tennis players. That’s pretty amazing.

KC: Yeah.

I also talk with, like owners of the tennis clubs here in Poland, because if I weren’t aware that there is such a group that we, can and want to have a separate tournaments. And I had a lot of, talking, with my tennis community that we really want to have our own space the same way. Like, they, have tournaments, especially for actors or for doctors, for lawyers. It’s normal, for them to have it from years. But we were very surprised that we need LGBT tournaments. So I had to talk with them and now I think it’s became more normal.

DG: Oh, but that’s very interesting. That’s amazing you directly contacted the clubs. Did you have any sort of written information or it was talking to them?

KC: Mostly talking yeah, yeah, it’s it’s not.

Nothing formal because I know a lot of them because I play a lot of tennis. You a lot of different clubs. So whenever I can I talk with people.

DG: You’ve mentioned the amazing named Poznan Summer vibes and that’s on again in 2025. And it’s on late June. Is that correct?

KC: Right. Yeah.

DG: Tell us more details about the Poznan Summer vibes 2025 tournament. I’m just imagining lots of music already.

KC: Yeah, we got some.

DG: Music special like, you know, some classic, you know, LGBT anthems or something. I don’t know, I’m already mentioning the music, which is great. I love music at a tennis tournament.

But tell us more about the the summer vibes. So, like what? What type of, surface is it on? You know, how big is it etc?

KC: We can accommodate around 120 players or.

DG: That’s quite large.

KC: More. Yeah, because last year we had, around 120 players and, 24 of them were, Woman. Oh, yeah. It was the.

First time ever, that in Poland we had, separate women role on charity tournament.

Yep.

And, we had six of them came from abroad, from UK, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany.

DG: Oh, fantastic.

KC: Even more woman wanted to come, but, obviously not everyone had the time or, some had some financial struggles, but generally people from abroad were interested. Hopefully this year we had also we will have also, a lot of players from abroad. And what can I say, we have mostly clay courts, but we have some hard courts too.

Some are under the roof. Most are open. I think the real capacity is 100 even 50 players, because we can spread to to the second venue, too. And what can I say? I can say about summer vibes last year that it was a, life changing event for some of the girls. Because, for example, two of them decided that we finally want to learn English because they want to communicate with other players and they want to go abroad to play.

DG: Oh my God, that’s amazing.

KC: Yeah, exactly. So that works. Well, because of tennis, we will learn new, new language. And the other two fall in love with each other on this tournament.

DG: Oh. Wonderful. Oh my God that’s gorgeous.

KC: And they are still together.

(laughter)

Really tournaments can change your life.

DG: Karolina did they played doubles together and fall in love?

KC: Yeah, no they didn’t play them back then. They weren’t playing double.

DG: Are they playing doubles now and still together?

KC: Yeah.

(laughter)

KC: Exactly.

(laughter)

DG: Far out I think I look, I admire any couples who play doubles together and are still couples. Let me tell you now.

KC: Yeah, it’s very rare.

It’s not easy. Most couples are not playing together because they prefer to have a relationship.

DG: I mean.

Let me tell you. Well, my, my now ex couple and I, we never played doubles together, but we lasted a very long time. And I think part of it is because we didn’t play doubles together. So…

(laughter)

So this is this, look, look, maybe people should. We should play doubles together to see what kind of couple they would be. I don’t know, maybe we’re on to something here.

KC: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can.

Compare playing doubles with somebody, like, kind of speed dating.

DG: Exactly. Oh, my God, I really.

KC: …see the character of the person…

DG: Oh, my. So true. I think you’ve invented a new type of tournament.

KC: Yeah.

(laughter)

DG: I love it, I love it.

Let’s come back to, you know, getting more LGBTQ, particularly lesbians involved in tennis and wondering whether, the Polish National Tennis Organization has helped you with that?

KC: Unfortunately not. As for today, they I just don’t have enough money to support us financially. To be frank, generally, if I don’t have, much money to support amateur sport, amateur tennis in Poland. But it’s their mission, official mission, to support also amateur tennis. So, we believe that even if we just get from them some official recognition and appreciation, for what we are doing for tennis, that would be also nice and useful for us.

It could help us in getting sponsors. So we will, yeah, focus on that and try to to get this official support from, you know, financial one? But yeah.

DG: I absolutely understand that. And yeah, I mean, even a, a statement of support is so powerful from formal organizations, there’s no doubt about that. I mean, certainly in Australia, you know, Tennis Australia has been supportive of LGBTQ tennis, particularly with the Australian Open with, you know, we have a Pride Day, which always brings a tear to my eye, you know, to see, you know, progress flags, pride flags at the Australian Open.

I just cannot believe it. Yeah, it’s really incredible.

KC: I know I cannot believe that on other Grand Slams we don’t have such events. Only Australia and the US open.

DG: Yeah, right.

KC: Like you are the best ones.

DG: Yeah I mean amazingly Australia has led the way on that. And yeah I mean I would like to see Wimbledon. I think, I think in the lead up tournaments is a bit more of a, you know, say a few rainbow, sweatbands and shoe laces and yeah, you know, the ball kids are wearing, you know, some rainbow stuff, which is great.

Yeah. Roland Garros like, could do a bit better. They could do better.

KC: Yeah. Especially that director is.

DG: Well. Amelie Mauresmo, I mean, hello.

Yeah.

KC: Hello Amelie!

(laughter)

DG: Exactly. I think, I think it goes a couple of years ago, right. There was one day that they changed the socials, icon to be rainbow colours, but they didn’t make a big deal of it. It was very subtle. So you know, look, baby steps. But we’re patient. Well, you know, let’s say the Olympics really flew the flag. Unofficially. Officially. So anyway, that’s something, right?

So now we’re going to ask you some personal questions around tennis. Why do you love tennis?

KC: I love it so much because there is so much more than pure technique and physicality to be a good tennis player. This game is so much about, being mentally strong and tactically smart, and that’s why it’s possible to have even matches, regardless of age or gender or money spent on professional tennis coaching and of course, being well trained, coached, being muscular and fit and younger will only help you to run after the ball and hit it in the most efficient way. But but still mental and intelligence part is so important in tennis now that you can make up, for, if you have, not so physically strong or not well trained. And besides, all this running after a ball and with your friends, keeps you healthy.

And it keeps you healthy on every level. You will get stronger body and also stronger mentality. And you have social connections in some instances, we can meet the love of our life.

What is also important?

(laughter)

DG: Very true. Absolutely. Yeah. It’s always a good start. I’m a big fan of meeting the love of your life at any sport. Doesn’t have to be tennis, but any sport, you know, healthier way than at bars. So, yeah. (laughter) And what have you learned from playing tennis?

KC: Well, it taught me a lot of very useful things that I use in life because it teaches you how to deal with your ego. When you lose or you win.

How to, reduce stress if you need to keep your head cool and your hand steady. How to be humble and to learn from mistakes and keep going and don’t give up. It teaches you how to, communicate on court and generally with different people, especially in doubles, you can experience that some words are super motivating for some of us and the same, for other absolutely not. Like for me, the words and I think our enjoy our tennis but for others, no normal enjoyment just focus and play. Now you win so many different methods motivating people and. Yeah, and to learn how many perspective there are, how we are, diverse. Yeah, yeah. And for example, on my fridge, I have a magnet with, Federer and it says “I never lose. Either I win or I learn”.

DG: That’s a great approach, isn’t.

KC: Everywhere. Yeah.

DG: Yeah. What I’ve learned I late in life is with tennis. It’s like you lose more than you win. Even at the great matches. They win probably 51% of the points that they play. So you constantly having to deal with the fact that you lose like you lose the point, but you still have to keep playing. But you can still win.

That’s the amazing thing about tennis.

KC: Exactly.

DG: And who’s your favourite player?

KC: My number one is the player from the past, past is Billie Jean King. And it’s because, not only she was a champion on the card, but she was also a great activist. And she changed woman tennis so that tennis could become a profession for girls and, they can earn money from playing tennis. And I think on every tournament, you can hear tennis players are thanking Billie Jean for that, what she has done.

And nowadays I also have some favourite players. Can’t name only one. I can start, of course, with Iga Swiatek the number one from Poland now a number two, (laughter) because, of her historic historical successes as a Polish player. (Yes.) She’s the best in Polish history. She’s a role model for lots of Polish kids. But also, I love Arena Sabalenka how she’s playing because she has so powerful, beautiful tennis.

And Karolina Muchová, Muchová, from Czechia because she is so versatile some says she’s like Federer. I love her play. Yeah. That’s why I love also Coco (Gauff), because she’s so, involved in social and political issues. The same as Iga Światek. I love them for for that.

DG: Yes.

KC: For something. Yeah. Besides tennis and making people aware of political issues and social.

DG: Yeah. Wonderful. To wrap up this interview is there anything else that you would like to talk about?

KC: I think, that, generally, I am focusing on getting more women players and sponsors and solidarity funds. I’m working here closely with tournament director of Summer Vibes Poznan [name] we call him Gigi for short. And, we will try to reach out to maybe also Billie Jean King Foundation. Maybe we will try to get a reach to Martina Navratilova. They are Rainbow Players. Maybe they know some ways of how to get, fund sponsor groups for our GLTA tour, because it’s the only one in the world for rainbow players so why not to support it? And I think it’s, grow. Yeah. And so what can I say? If you are interested in joining, please get in touch with me, with our social media.

DG: Okay.

Can you tell us what the, the social media handles are that people can learn more about, about what you’re trying to do and certainly, you know, playing in the GTA tournaments or the Polish tournaments.

KC: Yeah. So in Poland, probably the best is, our social media. So Facebook and Instagram of, our, local GLTA, let’s say it’s, Gaybledon Championship Tour. That’s the name. Okay. Our local Polish league, it’s like GLTA but for Poland and yeah, we are on Facebook and Instagram. Also you can, contact me. I’m also on Facebook and Instagram under my name Karolina Czyż. And we have Facebook group named “morewomen@GLTAtournaments”. I’m one of the admin of this group. And we have all the information, you might need to know to find us there in social media.

DG: Wonderful. Karolina Czyż thank you so much for joining us on Hit Me Up on Joy 94.9. And I hope one day I will be meeting you on a tennis court.

KC: Yes, please. Thank you very much for inviting me. Yeah. And helping to spread the news.

DG: Wonderful. Thank you so much.

END OF INTERVIEW

These are the tournaments Karolina refers to:

2023 June – Poznan, Poland – Summer Vibes

2023 July – Bern, Switzerland – Eurogames

2023 August – Katowice, Poland – Silesia Rainbow Cup Extraordinaire (SeRCE / heart)

2024 January – Amstelveen, Netherlands – 2 nd Dutch Lesbian Open

2024 February – Maspalomas, Spain – Women Sunshine Open Gran Canaria

2024 May – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Pinkster

2024 June – Poznan, Poland – Summer Vibes