INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Venus Williams, scheduled to play
her sister Serena in Thursday's Masters Series semifinals, withdrew
at the last moment because of tendinitis in her right knee.
|  | | Serena Williams takes questions at a news conference after it was announced that she and her sister, Venus Williams, would not face each other in a semifinal match. |
The announcement of Williams' withdrawal, made just as she and
Serena were to take the court for their evening match, drew loud
booing from the crowd of some 10,000 in the main stadium.
Venus Williams had shown no signs of the injury when she beat
Elena Dementieva 6-0, 6-3 in Wednesday's quarterfinals. She said
the knee began bothering her warming up for the semifinal and "I
was moving like a grandma."
"I made every effort to be on the court, stretching, warming up
and taping, seeing the doctor," said Williams, who said she
decided she couldn't play about 10-15 minutes before the match was
to begin.
"I don't like to play with pain because it can make it a lot
worse," she said.
Asked if she would have played the semifinal had it not been
against her sister, Venus replied, "No, I don't think so."
She limped slightly as she left the interview room.
Serena will play Kim Clijsters, who upset No. 1 Martina Hingis
in their semifinal, in Saturday's final (7:30 p.m. ET ESPN).
Serena was surprised Venus withdrew.
"To be honest, I'm just as shocked as you," she said. "I hit
a bit with Venus before the match."
Asked if her sister was limping then, Serena said: "She could
hardly hit, just slice and dropshot."
Serena was in the locker room getting ready for the match, which
would have been just the sixth time the two have played as pros,
when she learned Venus was pulling out.
"I asked her if she was OK. Her eyes were a little watery,"
Serena said. "I just wanted to know if she was all right. She
said, `Yeah.'
"She's just been having some knee problems."
Venus withdrawal also forced the sisters to face questions about accusations that it is their father, Richard Williams, decides who wins the matches between the sisters.
"We're competitors," Serena said. "We're here to compete and in the end we're going to have to play each other eventually."
Serena Williams said if her father was deciding the matches she thinks the series would be closer.
"I think if my Dad would decide," Serena Williams said, "then maybe Venus wouldn't be up 4-1, maybe it would be 3-all by now. So I don't think so."
Venus also disputed the criticism that she plays poorly against her sister.
"I've played awkward against a lot of people," Venus Williams told ESPN's Pam Shriver. "She wouldn't be the first one."
On Wednesday, Dementieva suggested that the semifinal winner might be decided before the first ball was struck after she lost in straight sets to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
"I don't know what Richard (Williams) thinks about it. I think he will decide who's going to win tomorrow," Dementieva said.
Richard Williams was not present Thursday night.
"He doesn't really come to our
matches when we play each other," Serena Williams said. "He wasn't at our practice. Well, he
walked us to the court, but then he left. That's usually how it is when we
play each other."
Venus Williams said she hadn't talked to her father yet but that she expected him to be supportive.
"He just wants us to be happy and to be healthy," Venus Williams said. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories |
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