Venus and Serena Will Be Missed
The people in charge of women's tennis would never admit this, but the Williams sisters control the sport. If they show up for a tournament, there's an automatic buzz. If they don't, well, then you have the Indian Wells tournament this week.
The general public may not care about the event that begins today in the Southern California desert, but it's a high-profile stop for both the women and men, one of a handful ranking just below the majors in prestige. Under what is known as the Roadmap Initiative for 2009, the WTA tour has designated Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing as "Premier" events that are mandatory for all the top players.
According to the rules, failure to play will not only result in zero rankings points for the missed event, but also a fine and a suspension from the following two tournament weeks. That's a heavy price to pay, and on the surface, the sisters' absence would take them out of the Miami tournament later this month, one of their favorite events since they live in nearby Palm Beach Gardens and collectively own 8 of the last 11 titles.
But wait -- there's a way out. Players can escape the fine and suspension if they engage in "promotional activities" for the event. Since they are allowed to do so anywhere within a 125-mile radius of the tournament, they don't even have to show up in the immediate area. It's not clear how Venus and Serena will fulfill this obligation, but they won't be anywhere near Indian Wells. They haven't played the tournament since 2001, and it's unlikely they ever will.
Just to recap, Venus, then 20 years old, was scheduled to play the 19-year-old Serena in the semifinals. It would have been only their sixth career meeting, and accusations were flying (including a thinly veiled hint from fellow player Elena Dementieva) that their matches were "fixed" by their father, Richard. Moments before they were scheduled to take the court, Venus defaulted, citing a knee injury. This caused an angry reaction among spectators, many of whom demanded a refund, and when Richard and Venus entered the arena two days later to watch Serena play Kim Clijsters in the final, they were jeered by a number of fans. The Williamses have always claimed the reaction was severely racist, and Richard went as far as to say, "That's the worst kind of prejudice I've seen since they killed Martin Luther King."
Despite efforts from Billie Jean King and other influential figures in women's tennis, the sisters haven't been back to Indian Wells, and their absence is particularly glaring this week. At a time when women's tennis should be thriving, the field looks positively vacant without Venus, Serena and Maria Sharapova, who has been out seven months with a shoulder injury and will play only the doubles (in an attempt to sharpen her game) at Indian Wells.
The men's field is fully loaded: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco, the Spaniard who took Nadal to five sets in one of the greatest Australian Open matches ever played. The top six women's seeds are outstanding players, no doubt about it, but each needs a major boost in her reputation. Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova are known mostly for losing big matches and falling short of their potential. Safina was crushed by Serena in the Australian Open final. Jankovic somehow reached No. 1 without winning a major. Ivanovic, after winning last year's French Open, fell into a deep and baffling slump. Kuznetsova has done little, on the biggest stages, since winning the 2004 U.S. Open.
It's remarkable to think that after all these years, the women's tour is still defined by the Williams sisters and their remarkable longevity. They are the shining lights of the game, providing nearly all of the tour's most memorable moments of the last couple of years. Indian Wells hasn't been the same without them, and never more so than this week.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=60&entry_id=36827
The people in charge of women's tennis would never admit this, but the Williams sisters control the sport. If they show up for a tournament, there's an automatic buzz. If they don't, well, then you have the Indian Wells tournament this week.
The general public may not care about the event that begins today in the Southern California desert, but it's a high-profile stop for both the women and men, one of a handful ranking just below the majors in prestige. Under what is known as the Roadmap Initiative for 2009, the WTA tour has designated Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing as "Premier" events that are mandatory for all the top players.
According to the rules, failure to play will not only result in zero rankings points for the missed event, but also a fine and a suspension from the following two tournament weeks. That's a heavy price to pay, and on the surface, the sisters' absence would take them out of the Miami tournament later this month, one of their favorite events since they live in nearby Palm Beach Gardens and collectively own 8 of the last 11 titles.
But wait -- there's a way out. Players can escape the fine and suspension if they engage in "promotional activities" for the event. Since they are allowed to do so anywhere within a 125-mile radius of the tournament, they don't even have to show up in the immediate area. It's not clear how Venus and Serena will fulfill this obligation, but they won't be anywhere near Indian Wells. They haven't played the tournament since 2001, and it's unlikely they ever will.
Just to recap, Venus, then 20 years old, was scheduled to play the 19-year-old Serena in the semifinals. It would have been only their sixth career meeting, and accusations were flying (including a thinly veiled hint from fellow player Elena Dementieva) that their matches were "fixed" by their father, Richard. Moments before they were scheduled to take the court, Venus defaulted, citing a knee injury. This caused an angry reaction among spectators, many of whom demanded a refund, and when Richard and Venus entered the arena two days later to watch Serena play Kim Clijsters in the final, they were jeered by a number of fans. The Williamses have always claimed the reaction was severely racist, and Richard went as far as to say, "That's the worst kind of prejudice I've seen since they killed Martin Luther King."
Despite efforts from Billie Jean King and other influential figures in women's tennis, the sisters haven't been back to Indian Wells, and their absence is particularly glaring this week. At a time when women's tennis should be thriving, the field looks positively vacant without Venus, Serena and Maria Sharapova, who has been out seven months with a shoulder injury and will play only the doubles (in an attempt to sharpen her game) at Indian Wells.
The men's field is fully loaded: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco, the Spaniard who took Nadal to five sets in one of the greatest Australian Open matches ever played. The top six women's seeds are outstanding players, no doubt about it, but each needs a major boost in her reputation. Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova are known mostly for losing big matches and falling short of their potential. Safina was crushed by Serena in the Australian Open final. Jankovic somehow reached No. 1 without winning a major. Ivanovic, after winning last year's French Open, fell into a deep and baffling slump. Kuznetsova has done little, on the biggest stages, since winning the 2004 U.S. Open.
It's remarkable to think that after all these years, the women's tour is still defined by the Williams sisters and their remarkable longevity. They are the shining lights of the game, providing nearly all of the tour's most memorable moments of the last couple of years. Indian Wells hasn't been the same without them, and never more so than this week.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=60&entry_id=36827