To the report from Tennis World, number 1 Serena Williams returned to the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, ending a 14-year personal boycott of the $5 million tournament that began when she was booed as a teenager on her way to winning the title in 2001.
In the gallery of 2001 when, she has not played at Indian Wells since that day, when she beat Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in the final, then cried for hours in the locker room and drove back to Los Angeles in emotional turmoil.
She said Thursday she was nervous informing her parents about her decision. She said they were both supportive, with her father Richard telling her “it would be a big mistake if I didn’t go back. I thought that was really admirable,” told a packed news conference at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
She also added that her decision to return was influenced partly by a film about Nelson Mandela and his dedication to reconciliation.
She never thought she would return to the two-week tournament in the Southern California desert. She even stayed in Los Angeles an extra day because she was not yet ready to start the journey.
In the 2001 final, the crowd was believed to be upset because of what happened a day earlier, when Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister, was scheduled to play Serena in a semifinal but withdrew shortly before the match, citing an injury. However, the spectators did not take it positively. In addition, in that time When Venus pulled out of the match 20 minutes before the start with tendinitis, boos rained down on stadium court, startling Serena. She was offended by later accusations that the sisters’ matches were fixed by Richard.
She never thought she would return to the two-week tournament in the Southern California desert. She even stayed in Los Angeles an extra day because she was not yet ready to start the journey.
In a statement, Venus Williams had beaten her sister in four of their five matches when she withdrew from the Indian Wells semifinals in 2001.
Earlier in the day, Williams practiced with security on hand to keep fans and media away. She has played just one Fed Cup match since winning the Australian Open in January. In the same time, she was nervous. She wanted to see whether they would support her going back to Indian Wells, California, to play in a tournament she had skipped 13 times since winning in 2001.