Art and Tennis on the Court Together For Breast Cancer Awareness

Often art can be used to educate and to inform.

It’s October 2020, and, in the midst of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we, at Love-Love Tennis, can’t think of a better example of this fact than the 2014 establishment of the I Touch Myself Project (#ITouchMyselfProject).

The project was originally founded in 2014 in honor of Chrissy Amphlett, the Australian singer-songwriter and frontwoman for the band Divinyls, who passed away of breast cancer and complications from multiple sclerosis at the age of 53.

Before she died, Chrissy’s hope was that her band’s 1991 global hit song, “I Touch Myself,” could continue to be shared and used to help remind women of the importance of routine self-checks of their breasts in the fight against breast cancer. The #ITouchMyselfProject has been in place ever since to turn Chrissy’s hope into a reality and to establish her legacy as breast cancer warrior. 

And, on September 29, 2018, tennis great Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) lent her voice to the project by releasing a breast health reminder video in which she sang several of the “I Touch Myself” song lyrics (we love-love Serena’s singing voice, by the way). On Instagram, Serena commented: “Yes, this put me out of my comfort zone, but, I wanted to do it because it’s an issue that affects all women of all colors, all around the world. Early detection is key – it saves so many lives. I just hope this helps to remind women of that.”  Since she released the video, it’s received more than 3 million views on Instagram – talk about raising awareness!

Besides Serena, other tennis stars are breast cancer warriors. Martina Navratilova (@Martina), a breast cancer survivor herself, is also an active voice in the fight.  And, the fight continues, as many professional and amateur tennis players continue to get “drafted” into the war against breast cancer. For example, just this year, wheelchair tennis star Ester Vergeer of The Netherlands revealed that she was diagnosed.  

In fact, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, “1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.”

So, whether it’s a reminder song or a reminder blog, like this one, we, at Love-Love Tennis, believe that art and creative content can make a difference in raising awareness. Our fervent hope is that one day breast cancer in the US and around the globe will be aced and eradicated.

Listen to this year’s I Touch Myself Project video to get touched (pun intended) and inspired to join the cause.