Serena Williams defeated Sloane Stephens on Tuesday in an all-African-American last 16 match-up that added a certain poignancy to the shock in tennis circles that the world number one had chosen to end a 14-year boycott and play this year’s Indian Wells Masters.
Both Serena and older sister Venus, who were at the time beginning to dominate the women’s game, were criticised after Venus forfeited the 2001 semi-final against her sister due to a persistent knee injury. The final, in which Serena defeated Kim Clijsters, was marred by booing and, it is claimed, racial abuse which led to the sisters vowing not to play Indian Wells again.
Disbelieving tennis commentators at the time gradually became convinced of the sisters’ resolve as the years trickled by, so they were more than a little surprised when Serena (though not Venus) entered the 2015 tournament as a wild card.
The younger Williams sister was moved to tears during a minute-long standing ovation ahead of her opening match against Monica Niculescu. Her reaction and that of her sister Isha, who was pictured sobbing in the players’ box, should have put paid to the notion some subscribed to that the events of 2001 were ‘nothing’ and that the family should ‘get over it’. Indeed there are some highly regarded tennis critics and former players who have maintained the Williams family’s boycott of Indian Wells was a publicity stunt, though quite why they should have boycotted a prestigious and lucrative event throughout the prime of both the sisters’ careers for barely needed self-promotion is hard to fathom.
Williams defeated Stephens, against whom she has lost at the US Open, in three sets after losing the first set tie-breaker.
Stephens, who is currently rated in the fifties in the world rankings having risen to as high as number eleven in 2013, buckled under the strain of playing the intimidating if below par number one seed.
Britain’s own Black hope, Guernsey’s Heather Watson, went out of the tournament 6-7, 6-3, 1-6 against Carla Suarez Navarro, but can count reaching the fourth round at Indian Wells as a qualified success. The 22-year-old defeated number seven seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the previous round and takes home £40,000 in prize money.
Watson has won two WTA titles, in Osaka (2012) and Hobart (2015), and reached the semi-finals in Eastbourne last summer, but Indian Wells is a more prestigious event as one of just four WTA ‘Premier Mandatory’ tournaments – the tier below the four Grand Slams. The 120 points she collected should move the British number one to a career-high ranking from her current 43.
