Erma Casey and Phyliss Carelock sat in US$50 seats near the top of the stadium court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on a bright afternoon. They conceded that it seemed like a high tariff to perch a half-dozen rows from the rim of the arena.
“But it would have been 30 percent more without my senior citizen’s discount,” Casey confided.
Like most of the fans at the BNP Paribas Open in the desert near Palm Springs, Casey and Carelock would have preferred to see Venus or Serena Williams playing in the women’s quarter-finals on Thursday on the court below. But they know the drill: Venus and Serena don’t do Indian Wells.
The most famous boycott in modern tennis goes on. The Williams sisters have not returned here since a celebrated incident in 2001. Venus, citing injury, pulled out of a semi-final match against Serena four minutes before it was scheduled to begin. The crowd booed that night and booed Serena again in the final. Their father, Richard, said there were racist taunts from the crowd. Father and daughters vowed never to return.
They have lived up to that promise, even as new WTA rules punish players who skip one of the tour’s so-called mandatory events. The Williams sisters are sustaining injury to their world rankings, losing money from the bonus pool and must perform a day of tennis-related activity within 200km of Indian Wells — or face a two-week suspension and a US$75,000 fine.
They remain undeterred. And Indian Wells, perhaps the most important tournament in the world that isn’t a Grand Slam, goes on without them.
The tournament director, Steve Simon, makes certain that the Williams sisters, currently ranked No. 1 (Serena) and No. 5 (Venus) in the world, know they are welcome back at any time.
Not that anyone holds out much hope for a rapprochement as Venus, 28, and Serena, 27, approach the twilight of their careers. Venus Williams this month told the news media in New York that she did not anticipate returning to Indian Wells.
Indian Wells officials will not grovel, Simon said, to bring them back.
“I’ve never begged or pleaded for any player to be here,” he said. “I want people to play here because they feel good about being here.”
Until 2001, Indian Wells and the Williams Sisters were good together. The tournament extended wild cards to the sisters when they were teenage prodigies living in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton.
“Serena won twice and Venus had some great successes here, too,” said Simon, who has been with the tournament for two decades. “This was a good tournament for them.”
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