Indian Wells is one of the most prestigious tournaments on the tennis calendar outside the four Grand Slams, but it is an event the Williams sisters boycotted for a number of years.
It is often called the ‘fifth Grand Slam’ due to the large crowd it attracts and hosts the second largest tennis stadium in the world, behind Flushing Meadows’ Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Williams won the tournament but suffered awful abuse from the crowdCredit: AFP
Venus and Richard Williams were booed as they took their seatsCredit: AFP
It has not been a happy tournament for everyone with the Williams sisters boycotting the event following a truly shocking incident in 2001.
Serena won the title that year as a 19-year-old, beating Kim Clijsters in the final, but was booed throughout the match and was racially abused, along with her sister Venus and father Richard.
The Williams sisters were due to play each other in the semi-final, but Venus withdrew from the match 20 minutes beforehand, citing a knee injury, and this angered the crowd.
This only fuelled suggestions that Richard decided in advance which sister would win their matches against each other.
The vitriolic abuse directed to the Williams family was horrendous and they vowed never to return to Indian Wells.
Richard Williams sent a defiant message to the crowdCredit: AFP
Serena said in her 2009 autobiography, On the Line: “What got me most of all was that it wasn’t just a scattered bunch of boos. It wasn’t coming from just one section.
“It was like the whole crowd got together and decided to boo all at once. The ugliness was just raining down on me, hard. I didn’t know what to do.
“Nothing like this had ever happened to me. What was most surprising about this uproar was the fact that tennis fans are typically a well-mannered bunch. They’re respectful. They sit still. And in Palm Springs, especially, they tended to be pretty well-heeled, too.
“But I looked up and all I could see was a sea of rich people—mostly older, mostly white—standing and booing lustily, like some kind of genteel lynch mob.
“I don’t mean to use such inflammatory language to describe the scene, but that’s really how it seemed from where I was down on the court. Like these people were gonna come looking for me after the match.
Serena won but vowed to never go backCredit: AFP
“There was no mistaking that all of this was meant for me. I heard the word n***** a couple times, and I knew. I couldn’t believe it.
“That’s just not something you hear in polite society on that stadium court.
“Just before the start of play, my dad and Venus started walking down the aisle to the players’ box by the side of the court, and everybody turned and started to point and boo at them.
“It was mostly just a chorus of boos, but I could still hear shouts of ’N*****!’ here and there.
“I even heard one angry voice telling us to go back to Compton. It was unbelievable.
“We refused to return to Indian Wells. Even now, all these years later, we continue to boycott the event.”
Serena Williams decided to end her boycott in 2015, after 14 years of not attending the tournament in California.
Williams’ boycott of Indian Wells ended in 2015Credit: AFP
“I feel that was 14 years ago and this is now,” she said after deciding to return. “I did the best that I could at this event, and I really am happy to have put a lot of that behind me.
“If I would have known I had to pull out, I would have played anyway just to have an opportunity to be back at this tournament and to be able to play.”
Venus Williams returned to Indian Wells the following year after refusing to attend after 15 years.
