The father of Venus and Serena Williams testified on Monday that he never served as their manager and had no authority to commit the tennis stars to play in a 2001 "Battle of the Sexes" match.
Richard Williams and his two daughters are accused of reneging on a deal to play in the event, costing promoters millions of US dollars and prompting a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the family.
"I was never Venus and Serena's manager, never," Richard Williams said.
PHOTO: AP
Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes, promoters and owners of a company called CCKR, allege that Richard Williams committed his daughters to play in the match, and they failed to live up to the agreement. The promoters are suing the sisters, their father and his company, Richard Williams Tennis & Associates for unspecified damages.
The Williams sisters did not sign a contract with CCKR. They contend their father could not make such a commitment because he did not have the authority to enter into the deal and has never served as their manager.
The dispute centers on whether Richard Williams was acting as the sisters' manager at the time the deal was made. On Monday, the plaintiffs' attorneys showed jurors copies of tax returns from 1998 through 2000 for Richard Williams' company that indicate he was paid nearly US$2 million in "management fees" by his daughters.
Williams said he was unaware his accounting firm was characterizing the payments from his daughters as management fees.
Attorneys for the sisters and their father claim the payments were mischaracterized for tax deduction purposes and that Richard Williams was paid merely for coaching services.
Richard Williams acknowledges drawing up terms of a potential contract for the 2001 event, but he insists he told promoters they would have to go through the IMG sports agency, which represents Venus and Serena, to complete any agreement.
The plaintiffs' attorneys played a video clip for jurors showing Richard Williams negotiating the deal with Clarke. In the video, taken by Richard Williams, he tells Clarke that Venus and Serena are "well aware of what I am doing."
"Was that a false statement?" Romano asked Richard Williams.
"Yes," he replied.
A first trial in the case ended in a mistrial in December. This second trial began on Friday and is expected to last five weeks. Jurors have the option of finding only Richard Williams liable, but they could also find the sisters and their father liable together or dismiss the allegations.
The sisters were in court on Monday and were seated at a table near their father, who is represented by a different attorney.
Richard Williams was set to return to the witness stand yesterday for cross-examination.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS