June 21, 2010 11:33AM 

# Somebody Tell Serena Williams 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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Americans [don’t curtsy](http://books.google.com/books?id=FOodocaTLsMC&pg=PA692&lpg=PA692&dq=miss+manners+curtsy+royalty&source=bl&ots=QfA3N9PmR0&sig=-0Q4AKX9zHDjcXYeor9TKQa3z1g&hl=en&ei=c3sfTIG3E8H68Abcl5yUDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=miss%20manners%20curtsy%20royalty&f=false) to [foreign monarchs](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/09/AR2009060902992.html).

> [Serena, who earned her third title](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/20/AR2010062003234.html) by beating her sister in last year’s final, has tweaked her tournament preparation in anticipation of a visit Thursday to Wimbledon by Queen Elizabeth II.
> 
> 
> “I’ve been working on my curtsy,” Serena said. “It’s a little extreme, so I’m going to have to tone it down. I was practicing it this morning.”

[This is a republic](http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_zoom_2.html). We do not recognize distinctions among individuals based on class or birth. We are not subjects of the queen of the England, the queen of the Netherlands, the emperor of Japan, or the king of Saudi Arabia. Therefore we don’t bow or curtsy to foreign heads of state.

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