Out of one desert controversy and into another! Reports say that the Williams sisters are holding firm on their longstanding Indian Wells boycott but have worked out a compromise with the WTA to avoid any suspensions that the new Roadmap could deal out to them for missing a premier-status tournament. Here’s the scoop from Bob Larson’s Tennis News:
Serena and Venus Williams have informed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour they will comply with appearance and publicity requirements that will allow them to not play the premier-status Indian Wells tournament (March 11-22) without being suspended.
A WTA source said the sisters will do “promotional activities in the tournament market,” which extends from Indian Wells and Palm Springs, Calif., to Los Angeles.
The Williamses have refused to play Indian Wells since 2001, when they claim that they and their father, Richard Williams, were subjected to racial taunts and comments from a stadium court audience which turned angry when it was announced about five minutes before the semifinal that Venus was injured and would not be able to play her sister.
With the passage of the WTA’s new Roadmap, which streamlines the schedule of tournaments, Indian Wells became one of four premier events that all top 10 players would be required to play. Initially, the tour announced that any top 10 player who declined to play a premier tournament without a legitimate medical excuse would be suspended for the next two premier events.
That resulted in more acrimony as Richard Williams threatened to sue the WTA if his daughters were suspended from playing their home town premier event at Key Biscayne, Fl. — the Sony Ericsson Open. Tour CEO Larry Scott spent months trying to negotiate a compromise that would return the sisters to Indian Wells, but the Williamses would not relent. The WTA has since put into place stipulations that any player declining to play an event for personal reasons could avoid suspension by doing a series of personal appearances promoting the tournament they were avoiding.
“The exact date for the performance of those activities, and the specific activities will be determined by the tour shortly,” a WTA spokesman said.
Think they’re overreacting? Well take a look at this footage from the 2001 final, where Richard and Venus are viciously heckled as they take their seats to watch Serena play Kim Clijsters. (Serena ended up winning the match.) I think you’ll understand why the Williams family is still pissed off:
An interesting tidbit: Russian player Elena Dementieva was a catalyst to the controversy, telling the press after losing to Venus in the quarters that “Richard is going to decide who wins tomorrow.” Some say that Dementieva’s comments fueled the fire, making Venus’s last minute semi-final withdrawal appear more suspicious than it was and inspiring the wrath of the crowd when the family appeared at the final.
It’s a real shame that the Williams sisters won’t play the tournament but this is obviously a very personal decision for both of them and I, for one, respect them for it. Perhaps tournament officials could grovel a little more and plan a “WE LOVE THE WILLIAMS SISTERS!” pep rally at this year’s tournament? They could go all North Korean style and do one of those elaborate coordinated numbers where everyone in the stadium holds different signs over their heads to make designs and spell out words. At this point, it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than Larry Scott to get these women to play.
And how awkward are these “promotional activities in the tournament market” going to be? “Come to Indian Wells – if you don’t want to see us play!”
Tags: Indian Wells, Serena, tennis, Venus, WTA
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So let me get this straight…Venus will boycott this tournament because of something the crowd did 8 years ago, but she wouldn’t boycott Dubai for their discrimination against Shahar Peer…why??? Something about honoring sponsors or something? That’s bullshit if you ask me. I understand that it was a horrible experience in ‘01 at Indian Wells, but seriously?! It was more out of the tournament’s control than the Peer situation.
Hey Nancy! I had the same thoughts about Dubai vs. Indian Wells. But I think the main difference between the situations is that the Williams sisters are boycotting IW for very personal reasons – they don’t speak out against the tournament unless asked, they don’t discourage others from playing, etc. I think that they made this decision way back in ‘01 that they’d never play it again, and that it’s a matter of personal pride to hold firm on this. I assume you watched the video and saw how nasty it was – I can see why they’d never want to step foot into that stadium again.
That said, I go to the tournament every year and LOVE it! The crowds are great – I’m actually shocked that such a thing would ever have happened there. It’s such a shame to sisters don’t play and I do think they should reconsider.
In terms of the Shahar Pe’er mess, I personally think it would have been great for Serena, Venus and
all of the other WTA players
to take a real stand on the issue. Here’s an interesting recent article from the NYtimes, where Venus Williams speaks about her decision to stay in the tournament:
http://tiny.cc/rBoJd
so the wms sisters can’t do it right unless they bow down to the great tennis gods at IW, that sounds ok!
I think the fact that Venus said something about the Shahar incident while accepting her winner’s trophy was worthy. She stated that she hoped the situation would be corrected for next year so that she could come back and defend her title. The fact that all of the players were already at the tennis site when the announcement was made put the players in an awkward position. Also, I believe that none of the players backed out of the tournament, so why focus on Serena and Venus? The other players are playing Indian Wells and neither Williams sister has ever asked for a boycott of the tournament by the other players, but Venus has implied that she will boycott Dubai if the prejudice against Shahar is not ended. That alone should say that Venus is serious about prejudice. Get off Serena’s and Venus’ backs; two women alone cannot change the world by themselves; the whole tennis community has to step up!
I do think the Dubai vs. IW issues are different – related but not the exact same. As I said in my earlier comment, the Williams sisters boycott IW for very personal reasons and I think it’s hard to argue against that kind of thing.
I agree with Edwin that Venus did the classy thing by speaking out during the tournament, but in a perfect world someone of some import on the tour (whether the Williams sisters, Jankovic, Ivanovic, etc.) would have done a little more than just talk. It’s easy to be an armchair critic, but sometimes we want our heroes to step up – just to prove to ourselves that there are people out there who do the right thing in tough situations.
They have got all the right to boycott IW, I wouldn't imagine in million years a Black British Tennis player to be booed by British fans in Wimbledon. What happens in US women tennis is something out of this world. Racism still active in some parts of United State, the Williams needs to boycott the IW for good.
Things needs to change before they step out of the court, and another thing, if those were my daughters, I wouldn't allow even to do a promotion for stinking Tournament.