“It has no place in sports or in tennis,” When Martina Navratilova threatened to hit Serena Williams’ father
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Martina Navratilova and Richard Williams
Despite Serena Williams‘ legendary status, her father, Richard Williams, has always been a very controversial figure in the eyes of her contemporaries or former players. Especially during their early days, when Serena and her sister Venus Williams were bursting onto the scenes, her father was involved in some sort of controversies every now and then.
He often made comments about Serena’s contemporaries and accused them of being racist toward his daughters. Most of these accusations were baseless and were never proven. Martina Navratilova, who is a tennis legend herself and was following the women’s tour closely back in the time, didn’t enjoy Richard’s baseless statements.
During the start of the 21st century, Navratilova bashed out Richard for creating unnecessary controversies and in an interview told that she doesn’t think the Williams sisters are being racially abused. She added that she likes Serena and Venus a lot but their father seems to be getting in the way.
“He’s creating a lot of controversies where there shouldn’t be any. There’s no racism as far as I know. I think that people have been treating them with kid gloves because they are African-Americans, and if they were white they would have been told off before and more. The girls are great. They’re great athletes and nice women. I like them a lot and their father seems to be getting in the way,” Navratilova said.
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“He did a great job with both girls, but he needs to put a lid on it”: Martina Navratilova on Richard Williams
Richard Williams was also accused of match-fixing by telling his daughters which match to lose deliberately. The American legend spoke about that too and said that despite some suspicion, she doesn’t know anything about the reality.
She said: “That’s what I have to say about that, and he’s probably going to yell at me next time he sees me. I have no idea if their father tells them who should win a match, but I called that semifinal match (for television) at Wimbledon and I thought Serena looked really out of sorts. She just really looked out of it and didn’t look like herself. Whatever reasons there were, I don’t know.”
In the final of the 2000 US Open, Venus Williams defeated Lindsay Davenport to win her maiden US Open title. But strangely, after her win, Richard Williams danced in front of Davenport as if he was mocking her. Navratilova didn’t like this attitude of his and said that if he had danced in front of her after she lost to one of his daughters in a match, she probably would’ve hit him. She added that he did a great job in coaching both Serena and Venus, but such kind of behavior has no place in tennis.
“If Richard Williams had danced in front of me after I lost to one of his daughters in a match, I probably would have hit him,” Navratilova said smiling. What he did at the U.S. Open was absolutely horrible. It has no place in sports or in tennis. He did a great job with both girls bringing them to the level they are at right now, but he needs to put a lid on it,” she said.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)