‘I Was Just Like Crying and Crying’ – Serena Williams Recalls How She and Her Family Were Mistreated at the Indian Wells

Over the years, Serena Williams and Venus Williams have had a healthy relationship on and off the court. They have played many memorable matches against each other. Moreover, they have also combined as a team to achieve success in women’s doubles. Together, they have gone on to win 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. Additionally, they also have three Olympic gold medals in women’s doubles to their credit.

However, the Williams family was involved in an infamous incident. It dates back to the Indian Well Masters tournament in 2001. Venus was due to face her younger sister in the semifinals of the tournament. However, minutes before the start of their match, Venus pulled out of the tournament owing to a knee injury.

Her withdrawal didn’t go down well with the crowd who were highly anticipating the match between the two sisters. Moreover, it led to accusations against their father alleging that he had pre-determined who will win the contest. Recently, Serena revisited the infamous incident.

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Serena Williams talks about the 2001 Indian Wells incident

The younger Williams sister opened up on the incident during the Red Table Talk show with Will Smith. She said, “I remember I was playing this match, this infamous match in Indian Wells in the final… I mean, it was hard, and I just remember, I was losing and I didn’t even care. I was like, I don’t want to win, I just want to get out of this with dignity and not just walk off court and not just start balling right there at that moment and literally every changeover, I sat down, I prayed.”

Further, she added, “I was like just help me get through this. Just help me step on the court, I’m not even trying to win, I’m just gonna go on the court, just finish the match. I know that I got strength, somehow came back and won that match and I was able to just get through that moment and it really has helped us in so many different ways in our career.”

How the incident affected her and her family?

Talking about her finals victory over Kim Clijsters in that tournament, Serena said, “That was a rough one for me and it was so hard… I just remember getting in the car…there was no celebration and I was just like crying, crying, and crying… We’ve had to face different things that quite frankly, no one has been able to face in tennis. It’s been very, very difficult… Actually was more upset that they were booing my sister when she came down to walk.”

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Subsequently, the two sisters boycotted the tournament for 14 years when they were at the peak of their careers. Recently too, the crowd at Indian Wells has been in the news. Naomi Osaka burst into tears after her second-round loss against Veronika Kudermetova. Apparently, she was unhappy with the unruly behavior of the crowd.