Serena to play Indian Wells again

[Calvy]

Though she only lost one round prior to last year at the AO I imagine she had hoped to do better than last year's quarters loss at the AO and scored very little points there as a result. Knowing she's a favourite to win any tournament and the potential of a 1000 points that'd be my thoughts behind why she'd choose to play. She wants to cushion her points lead and stay number 1 as long as possible. She hasn't played since 2001 unlike the other ladies so they're all free points.

Serena does not chase points. Again, Serena did not choose to play IW, because she never said she was playing IW. Let me know if you see any articles where Serena quoted she will be playing that racist tournament.

That is so over-the-top. This isn't 1950's Alabama; it's southern California in the 21st century. There is NO WAY there would be any racist outbursts there.

The Williams sisters have taken a single, isolated incident and blown it way out of proportion for over a decade. Move on ...

HUH??

Until you have walked in their footsteps, you should not make a claim such as "they have blown it out of proportion." I find that to be a ridiculous claim, and an insensitive one.

What happened that day wasn't coming from the organizer or sponsors, but, THE FAN, in Southern California, in the 2000's, where u make the claim that racial incidents will NOT happen.

Guess what, according to the family, it did happen. Even Billie Jean King has stated if was bad that day, and she understand the Williamses position.

But, for you to so easily state in so many words, "get over it, it wasn't that bad," is crazy.

They say time heals all wounds, but, that doesn't mean u should brush aside and belittle someones wounds and imply their scars are not valid.

That being said, I hope she does play Indian Wells.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Here are some observations.

1. First of all crowd is not one monolithic entity to have uniform and fixed behaviour.

2. I am not sure how much of the incident has anything to do with race. The
crowd was disappointed that they could not see a match which they came to
see. The match got cancelled about 15 minutes or so before it was scheduled
to start. It may just be a case of crowd taking their frustration at their
unfortunatue situation of not getting the entertainment they were there for.

3. Both Serena and Venus were too young at the time of the incident. It is
unreasonable for us to rationalize now that they should have known all
these things and acted in a mature manner. To gain proper perspective,
one needs experience, maturity and wison which is certianly difficult
to have at their age.

4. While this incident might not be of racist nature, I am sure both the
sisters were subject to some racism in their professional lives especially
in the early part of their careers. Some of it was shown in the movie
9 for 9 on ESPN (the one done to celebrate the achievement of
equal prize money for women and Venus's contributions to it).

5. Assuming the news is true, I am glad that they decide to come back to IW.
That will be in the spirit of Nelson Mandela.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Regarding Indian Wells Saga, I also think the Williams Sisters got away without much
repercussions for skipping it. Of course, before it was a mandatory tournament, it was ok
to skip it. But, they continued to skip it even after it became a mandatory tournament
as per the WTA rules.

My question to those who follow the WTA ranking points and penalty system more
closely is this: What exactly is the punishment given to Williams Sisters for skipping
Indian wells.

I know, they get 0 points for that tournament. But, that cannot be considered
punishment.

To put it bluntly, Did the WTA not go after them as they are big name players?

They got more punishment than the 0 point thing

Stacys predecessor added the Williams clause to the rule.

It said that those who missed a premier event was barred

from playing the next event. This was clearly aimed at the

Sisters, trying to force them to play IW or they couldn't play

their home tourny at Miami. The other players all played both

events anyway. Richard said if they tried to enforce that rule

it would be decided in court. I guess the downside of a very

public court battle didn't appeal to the WTA. They proposed

that the girls could do promotional stuff for the event within

25 miles instead. I guess this was too close to IW and Serena

said she would do it but she didn't think they would like what

she had to say about IW. So it was changed to 100 miles and

just promoting Tennis.

However if more punishment is what you want, Serena and Venus

lost well over a half a million dollars as they didn't recieve their share

of the player pool for missing IW.


ps....I have yet to see a promotional vid by the sisters during IW

Thanks for the explanation. I think that paints correct picture.
But I still feel (based on your explanation) that WTA caved in to their status.

I would not call that "Willimas Clause". There is a similar rule in ATP for
a long time. Even today, if a player that is eligible to play in one of the
eight mandatory ATP 1000 (Masters) event does not participate in it
due to reasons other than injury, they not only get a 0 in it, they get
their points taken off from the next mandatory ATP 1000 event also.
I am not sure whether it is specifically from the next 1000 event or
the 1000 event in which they have the best result.

They do have some exceptions for no of matches played over career,
no of years in circuit and age. For meeting each one of these criteria, you
get to skip one mandatory event. If you meet all three criteria, you can
skip all mandatory events (if you choose so) without any additional penalty
(other than getting 0 in the events that you skipped). Currently, Roger
is eligible to skip all mandatory events as he meets all three conditions.

I don't know the exactly rules in WTA though.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Here are the penalties for missing a tournament in ATP without valid reasons.
These are taken verbatim from the rulebook.


----------------------Begin verbatim ---------------------------------------------------

D. Withdrawal Penalties
1) ATP World Tour 500. Any player withdrawing after the entry/withdrawal deadline
shall have a ranking penalty assessed in accordance with procedures specified
in the ranking section of this rule book. Players shall not have the ranking penalty
assessed if they complete the requirements for “promotional activities”; are out
of competition for 30 days; or the withdrawal complied with the requirements for
an on-site withdrawal. Players may appeal withdrawal penalties to a Tribunal who
will determine whether the penalties are affirmed or set aside.
2) ATP World Tour Masters 1000. Any player withdrawing from the main draw shall
have a ranking penalty assessed in accordance with procedures specified in the
ranking section of this rule book and be suspended from a subsequent ATP World
Tour Masters 1000 event. This event shall be the event where the player earned
the highest point total during the previous 12 months. Subsequent withdrawals
will carry a second suspension from the next event where the player earned his
second highest point total. Additional withdrawals will include further suspensions
in the same manner. Players shall not have the suspension penalty assessed
if they complete the requirements for “promotional activities” or the withdrawal
complied with the requirements for an on-site withdrawal. Players may appeal
suspension penalties to a Tribunal who will determine whether the penalties are
affirmed or set aside (see sections J & K). Ranking penalties are automatic and
cannot be appealed.

----------------------------End Verbatim -------------------------------------------------

Focus on the ATP 1000 which is the equivalent in ATP to the mandatory events in WTA.
If you miss one without valid reason, they ban you on another one and that too on the
one in which you got the maximum points before. So, they hit you where it hurts.

So, whatever soemone was calling as "Williams Clause" is really a norm in ATP for
all players.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

You all are talking much about the past, lets talk about the future!

I am glad she is rumored to be attending.
Professionalism is much separated from emotions!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I said in one of my earlier posts, it would in the spirit of Nelson Mandela.
I did not know that it was actually the recent movie on Nelson Mandela that
inspired to Serena to consider changing her mind.

See the NYT article below.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/sports/tennis/serena-williams-may-end-boycott-of-event-at-indian-wells.html?_r=1

 

[Si Si Simona]

That rule of "promotional appearance within a 75-mile radius of the tournament" is so stupid.
So a player should promote an event she has no intention of playing in... lol. Its so fake.
The real weird world of women tennis. I am still baffled and amazed at the WTA mentality and its biggest forum on the net (its not "tennisfrontier") full with nuters and weirdos. Its a fascinating twisted funny little world out there.
I am here only for the play, not for the show off background of women tennis.
What should I say about Genie being a fan of a drunk driver playing as a bad kid. Biever is just faking it lol. He needs the attention, poor teenager.
Or Vika and that mutant boyfriend Its so weird. Vika is so serious and hard worker and she keeps that silly little redfu with her. go figure these people... so weird.
And don't start me about Masha sugarpova ffs... who changes its name just for the gig or business? weirdo!

Players look so great on court, but outside off it they can be more stupid than the average person on the street. The heroes culture is just a one big unreal fake.
As I said, I am here (in tennis) only for the sports. They are not heroes at all for me.
If I saw Vika and her red thing on the street I would probably start laughing at the silly couple.
Dedicating themselves to tennis only is clearly slowing their mental development outside of tennis.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

That rule of "promotional appearance within a 75-mile radius of the tournament" is so stupid.
So a player should promote an event she has no intention of playing in... lol. Its so fake.
The real weird world of women tennis. I am still baffled and amazed at the WTA mentality and its biggest forum on the net (its not "tennisfrontier") full with nuters and weirdos. Its a fascinating twisted funny little world out there.
I am here only for the play, not for the show off background of women tennis.
What should I say about Genie being a fan of a drunk driver playing as a bad kid. Biever is just faking it lol. He needs the attention, poor teenager.
Or Vika and that mutant boyfriend Its so weird. Vika is so serious and hard worker and she keeps that silly little redfu with her. go figure these people... so weird.
And don't start me about Masha sugarpova ffs... who changes its name just for the gig or business? weirdo!

Players look so great on court, but outside off it they can be more stupid than the average person on the street. The heroes culture is just a one big unreal fake.
As I said, I am here (in tennis) only for the sports. They are not heroes at all for me.
If I saw Vika and her red thing on the street I would probably start laughing at the silly couple.

If people (I know you don't want and I too don't want) want to talk about other stuff
in Tennis Frontier they can do so in the General Tennis Talk forum. Please note that
there are many different forums in Tennis Frontier.

 

[Si Si Simona]

If people (I know you don't want and I too don't want) want to talk about other stuff
in Tennis Frontier they can do so in the General Tennis Talk forum. Please note that
there are many different forums in Tennis Frontier.

Ok, sorry about that. I just typed while thinking about stuff. One thing led to another

 

[golds girl]

Though she only lost one round prior to last year at the AO I imagine she had hoped to do better than last year's quarters loss at the AO and scored very little points there as a result. Knowing she's a favourite to win any tournament and the potential of a 1000 points that'd be my thoughts behind why she'd choose to play. She wants to cushion her points lead and stay number 1 as long as possible. She hasn't played since 2001 unlike the other ladies so they're all free points.

Serena does not chase points. Again, Serena did not choose to play IW, because she never said she was playing IW. Let me know if you see any articles where Serena quoted she will be playing that racist tournament.

That is so over-the-top. This isn't 1950's Alabama; it's southern California in the 21st century. There is NO WAY there would be any racist outbursts there.

The Williams sisters have taken a single, isolated incident and blown it way out of proportion for over a decade. Move on ...

HUH??

Until you have walked in their footsteps, you should not make a claim such as "they have blown it out of proportion." I find that to be a ridiculous claim, and an insensitive one.

What happened that day wasn't coming from the organizer or sponsors, but, THE FAN, in Southern California, in the 2000's, where u make the claim that racial incidents will NOT happen.

Guess what, according to the family, it did happen. Even Billie Jean King has stated if was bad that day, and she understand the Williamses position.

But, for you to so easily state in so many words, "get over it, it wasn't that bad," is crazy.

They say time heals all wounds, but, that doesn't mean u should brush aside and belittle someones wounds and imply their scars are not valid.

That being said, I hope she does play Indian Wells.

Hey,
Interesting topic. It would be great for the fans there to see Serena, but just wanted to address the issue of geography and this tournament.

I've lived in California for a long time, both Southern California and Northern California. Like the crowd of a major, the people are not a monolithic group. In fact, once you leave Los Angeles County and start moving east into San Bernardino and Riverside County, the ideologies of the folks change drastically. Start getting into the desert areas, you even start encountering areas dominated by White Supremacy groups. It's not a stretch to think that in this Palm Springs-based tourney, there would be a mix of some of these people.

Now, turning back to the actual tournament, I've been to quite a few U.S. Based tourneys and this is the, uh, least diverse of all of them. I was at Indian Wells a couple years ago and was pleased to see a little more diversity, but in comparison to a Miami or a Stanford, pretty much night and day.

However, I think in 2014, because of the highly PC culture in which we live in the U.S., the likelihood of a repeat occurrence would be extremely low.

I hope she does reconsider so that we can have a true competition with the rest of the top players.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I think Serena playing here is maybe to let it go, but I think she has designs on maintaining her number 1 ranking at least for another year. She has a lot of points to defend and she lost an opportunity in Australia to gain points her only other one really is Wimbledon. So realistically speaking, this is her one opportunity at gaining a lot of points without having to play 4-5 extra tournaments to get 1000 points.

 

[Front242]

Yup. Points gain is what I mentioned earlier too and I stick to that as the main reason.

 

[Fiero425]

Yup. Points gain is what I mentioned earlier too and I stick to that as the main reason.

That may be the case, but who can overtake her? Aza lost early and I can't imagine her being consistant enough to move up by year's end! :nono :angel:

 

[Front242]

Well, Serena has TONS of points to defend this year so she'll need to do very well everywhere to maintain her ranking and the fact that she hasn't played this tournament for years gives the potential for lots of points so she'll take all she can get imo. Years/weeks at #1 is probably another thing she's playing for at this stage of her career.

 

[Fiero425]

Well, Serena has TONS of points to defend this year so she'll need to do very well everywhere to maintain her ranking and the fact that she hasn't played this tournament for years gives the potential for lots of points so she'll take all she can get imo. Years/weeks at #1 is probably another thing she's playing for at this stage of her career.

Weeks at #1 is something she's woefully behind I guess since she's played part time for so many of her best years! Even little Hingis took it more seriously and Serena probably wants to at least eclipse her before retiring! She has a chance at Evert, but forget about Martina and Steffi's stranglehold on the top! :clap

 

[Front242]

Well, Serena has TONS of points to defend this year so she'll need to do very well everywhere to maintain her ranking and the fact that she hasn't played this tournament for years gives the potential for lots of points so she'll take all she can get imo. Years/weeks at #1 is probably another thing she's playing for at this stage of her career.

Weeks at #1 is something she's woefully behind I guess since she's played part time for so many of her best years! Even little Hingis took it more seriously and Serena probably wants to at least eclipse her before retiring! She has a chance at Evert, but forget about Martina and Steffi's stranglehold on the top! :clap

Yup. They all add to the legacy so she may want to cushion her lead as much as possible to stay there while she can and Indian Wells is a good opportunity for points.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Those who are talking points are way off. Serena has a history of not caring for rankings.
Moreover, she is not in any imminent danger of losing her #1 rankings.

When you have not played a tournament for more than 10 years due to the reason she
missed, it is impossible to think that she is playing in there all of a sudden just to get
some points.

Those who are citing points are seriously missing the history of what happened and
the personality of Serena.

 

[Fiero425]

Those who are talking points are way off. Serena has a history of not caring for rankings.
Moreover, she is not in any imminent danger of losing her #1 rankings.

When you have not played a tournament for more than 10 years due to the reason she
missed, it is impossible to think that she is playing in there all of a sudden just to get
some points.

Those who are citing points are seriously missing the history of what happened and
the personality of Serena.

Are you her manager now? :nono :s :huh:

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Too early to talk about this, Middle east swing is coming up!

 

[Si Si Simona]

If Serena plays Indian Wells she will show that the racists haven't beaten her and she came on top. This may be another way of looking at it and may be the real reason for her to play.