BNP Paribas Indian Wells

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Permalink Reply by Jazz Burks on March 1, 2010 at 12:53pm

The sisters refused to play Indian Wells because they and their father claimed to have heard racist and ignorant comments after Venus pulled out of the tournament with an injury but still made it to the stands to watch Serena play. The WTA has made special exemptions for the sisters by allowing them to do promotional work for the WTA in the form of clinics and whatnot. Other players can do this also but the Williams sisters will always do this for IW. Sorry but short of another US Open type of outburst, the tour is never going to ban such high ranking players from the Majors At this point for the sisters and Fed these tournaments are not that important. If they win its gravy. If they lose they still have $20-$50 million dollars worth of mashed potatoes!

Permalink Reply by Jae on March 2, 2010 at 7:28pm

Well personally i feel they have a right to not play their after the experience they went through. I stand behind them 100% and the tour can do what they want but they wont play there. Indian Wells didnt even offer an apology to the incident that happened so what that tells you? No their not above everybody else but their standing for what they believe in and nothing anybody else can do about it. They Williams have done more for the game then anybody on the tour right about now and besides why is this still a issue when this has happened soo long ago. Apparently they have moved on from the situation and so should you.

Permalink Reply by Wesley Etheridge on March 9, 2010 at 12:57am

After the way they were treated by the fans (constant booing when Serena made errors and the shouted racial slurs) and the fact that the tournament directors did not intercede, they would be out of their minds if they played at Indian Wells.

In fact, it was the tournament directors that would not allow Venus to withdraw from the match hours earlier because they hoped that she would get better and would be able to play. This mishandling of the situation is what made the fans believe that Venus pulled out at the very last minute under suspicious circumstances.

Venus and Serena must participate in marketing events for the tournament as a consolation for not actually playing, which is safer than being amongst frothing, bigoted people. For their own safety, it would be best that they not play at this venue -- ever. Besides, the tournament directors probably realize the money they would make from having the Williams Sisters in the tournament would be quickly eaten up by the security detail they would have to provide.

The fact that they have to skip this event means we real fans don't get to see them play but, as a black woman with self-esteem and common sense, I more than understand.

Permalink Reply by Wesley Etheridge on March 13, 2010 at 8:48am

Is there nothing honorable in your life that you would be willing to give up prize money for?

Permalink Reply by Will Davis on October 15, 2010 at 4:15pm

I don't understand why many are still upset over this when it happened a decade ago!

I wasn't too familiar with the situation until i saw it on Youtube, after looking it up on Wikipedia. The opposition can make any speculation that they'd like about Richard Williams, however, there is no doubt that he has fathered/coached two of the most powerful women in Tennis EVER.

Permalink Reply by blackrino on July 16, 2011 at 6:31pm

no they don't have to play there they have the alternative of some other activity, anyway nobody can make a player play