KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – The father of Venus and Serena
Williams said the jeers directed at his family during a tournament
in Indian Wells, Calif., were racially motivated.
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| Richard Williams |
Richard Williams made the allegations at the Ericsson Open,
where his daughters both won fourth-round matches Monday.
"The white people at Indian Wells, what they've been wanting to
say all along to us finally came out: 'N-----, stay away from here,
we don't want you here,' " Williams said.
The crowd booed the family March 17 after Venus pulled out of
her semifinal match against Serena, citing knee tendinitis. The
withdrawal sparked a new round of speculation that the result of
matches between the sisters is predetermined by their father, which
the family denies.
Taunts by the crowd went beyond suspicions of match-fixing,
Richard Williams said.
"It's the worst act of prejudice I've seen since they killed
Martin Luther King," Williams said. He said that as he and Venus
were walking to their seats for the final, about a dozen fans used
the racial slur and one spoke of skinning him alive.
Williams said he resisted a temptation to respond. Instead, he
said, he watched near tears as fans jeered Serena and cheered when
she double faulted en route to a victory over Kim Clijsters. He
characterized the crowd as white and wealthy, with all but about a
thousand fans in the crowd of 16,000 booing his daughter.
"That's the hardest time in the world I've ever had," Williams
said. "I'll never go to Indian Wells again, because I believe that
guy would skin me alive."
Asked about her father's allegations, Venus said: "I heard what
he heard." She declined to elaborate.
Williams developed his daughters into Grand Slam champions but
has a history of outrageous comments. Top-ranked Martina Hingis,
who didn't attend the Indian Wells final, said she likes the
sisters but discounted Richard Williams' allegations.
"I think it's total nonsense," Hingis said. "I don't feel
like there is any racism on the tour. It's a very international
sport, and I even would say because they may be black, they have a
lot of advantages. ... They can always say it's racism."
During the 1997 U.S. Open, Richard Williams alleged that a
collision between Irina Spirlea and Venus Williams on a changeover
was racially motivated.
Indian Wells officials didn't return phone calls seeking
comment. Charles Pasarell, director of the Indian Wells tournament,
told USA Today he was embarrassed by the boos. As for racial
taunting, Pasarell said, "If Richard says someone yelled
something, maybe they did, but I know that's not Indian Wells
people."
Serena Williams said she hadn't spoken to her father about his
allegations and couldn't confirm them.
"I'm not really trying to get involved in any type of
controversy," she said. "I stick by my dad and know that he's
usually a very true-hearted person."
Wearing a T-shirt bearing a caricature of himself, Williams
managed once again to upstage action on the court Monday. The media
section was nearly empty during Andre Agassi's victory, while
outside the stadium reporters and cameras surrounded Williams as he
spoke.
He said reporters erred by writing about unsubstantiated
allegations of match-fixing, and he accused other players on the
WTA Tour of jealousy toward his family.
"The girls that play professional tennis are always saying
something about me," he said. "The only way those girls get their
names in the paper – they would have to say something about me.
Otherwise no one would write about them."
Williams said he'll let his daughters decide whether to play at
Indian Wells again. He praised Ericsson fans, who have cheered for
his daughters and reserved their boos for line judges and chair
umpires.
"This reception here at the Ericsson has been tremendous," he
said. "You can see the results with the score today. Serena wasn't
being booed so she was able to play her game."
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