Serena Williams said on Thursday (March 12) her decision to end a 14-year boycott of the BNP Paribas Open after suffering racist abuse in the 2001 final came down to “timing.”
Serena had boycotted the tournament after racial abuses were hurled upon her in 2001
Williams had skipped the showpiece event at the desert resort after winning her second title here by beating Kim Clijsters in a final marred by the behavior of some spectators who booed and heckled the American and her family.
“Well, the whole point of me coming back was not to necessarily focus on what happened 13 years ago, and it was more or less to focus on how I felt, and if it was the right opportunity to come back now and for me to be at this tournament, so I think I kind of let that go.”
“With my dad, I was a little nervous for him as well, and I wrote about that, because he’s been through some things as he was growing up, as a young man, and he… When I was done telling him, I was really… It was a really emotional time for me when I was talking to him, and I was like ‘I think I should go back, but I’m not going to go back if you don’t want me to,’ and you know the last thing I want to do is do something that I don’t think is right for all of us, and he said it would be a big mistake if I didn’t go back. I thought that was really admirable.”
“Well, it was just a really good opportunity for me, I just felt like, it was time, there’s nothing, there’s not one thing that says ‘I should come back, I should come back in 2015,’ I didn’t even know I’d be playing in this year, but it was more or less just timing, I just kind of felt it, I just felt like everything was a right time for me to just come back and just try to do the best that I could do again.”, she said.
The reaction was in apparent response to Serena’s sister Venus having withdrawn from their semi-final that year just minutes before the match.
“The whole point of me coming back was not to necessarily focus on what happened 14 years ago,” world number one Williams, 33, told a packed news conference at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
“It was more or less to focus on how I felt, if it was the right opportunity for me to come back now and for me to be at this tournament. I just felt like it was time.”
“There’s not one thing that says I should come back, that I should come back in 2015. I just felt like it was the right time for me to come back here and try to do the best that I could.”
Spectators vented their displeasure with the withdrawal of Venus during the 2001 final, booing Serena and jeering her sister and father Richard Williams when the pair arrived to watch the match.
Richard Williams alleged he had heard racist taunts, and Serena said she was “nervous” when speaking to her father about her possible return.
“He’s been through some things when he was growing up,” said the 19-times grand slam singles champion. “It was a really emotional time for me when I was talking to him.
“I was like, ‘I think I should go back, but I’m not going to go back if you don’t want me to.’ He said it would be a big mistake if I didn’t go back. I thought that was really admirable.”
Serena Williams plays her opening match at Indian Wells on Friday (March 13).
Ventuno/Reuters