If any doubt existed whether the landscape of tennis in regard to Serena Williams in Indian Wells, Calif., than it was in 2001, the non-response to her withdrawal in her semifinals match against Simona Halep should be a sufficient answer.
Rolling Stone reported that Williams, the No. 1 player in the world, won at Indian Wells despite not winning the tournament. She addressed the crowd after the semifinal between Jelena Jankovic and Sabine Lisicki on Friday.
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Her interview was captured on youtube.com, and she never really indicated that she was withdrawing because of a knee injury. The event's master of ceremonies, Andrew Krasny, repeatedly told Williams how much Indian Wells loved her. He wished her a speedy recovery and said she has an open invitation to come back any time she wants.
But Krasny didn't fully explain that Williams was withdrawing, either.
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Williams apparently hurt her knee a few days before her match during a practice and said she could barely walk by the time her semifinal match was to take place on Friday.
Her withdrawal made news because of the irony in that 14 years ago when Venus Williams withdrew from her semifinal against Serena (the last time either of the sisters played at the event). But the reports simply said what happened and noted that the news didn't cause nearly the negative reaction that her sister's withdrawal received in 2001.
The announcement of Venus' withdrawal, however, came just four minutes before the sisters were supposed to play. Angry fans booed the announcement and then booed Serena during her final against Kim Clijsters, and booed Venus and their father Richard as they made their way to the stands to cheer for Serena.
The Williamses claimed that they were victims of racial comments from fans during the match, which prompted the 14-year boycott by Serena and Venus at the event.
As Rolling Stone pointed out, the Williams were still considered relative newcomers to the tour, and their early dominance did meet with some fan resistance - whether racially motivated or not.
Now, both are revered elder stateswomen of the game. And with that stature comes more power. In 2001, fellow player Elena Dementieva was quoted as saying that Richard was fixing which sister was going to win the match and received no reprimand from the WTA.
Last year, the head of the Russian Tennis Federation called Venus and Serena "the Williams brothers" and was swiftly suspended by the WTA.
In a perfect world, Williams or her handlers should've made the call after her quarterfinals match, or she should've tried to play the semis before calling it quits.
But that fact that no criticism came shows Serena's stature in her sport.
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