Serena Williams Loses to Victoria Azarenka in Indian Wells, Comments on Raymond Moore Statement
Williams made headlines in her return to the competition.
In the recently concluded BNP Paribas Open, Victoria Azarenka pulled a big upset over Serena Williams in the final to lift the Indian Wells title – however, there were more fireworks after the game.
Azarenka took the showpiece event 6-4, 6-4 in Williams' second consecutive appearance in the event since the infamous 2001 event which saw Serena, Venus and their father Richard being unjustly booed and verbally attacked by the fans. This led to Serena choosing not to attend for 14 consecutive years.
Her sister, Venus Williams returned for the first time in 15 years following the jeering she received during that instance as well.
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However, instead of celebrating Azarenka's win or the return of the Williams' sisters, tournament director Raymond Moore turned the spotlight on himself after remarks he made about women in tennis.
Moore claimed that women should thank men for bringing the game to the global stage, and that everything the women are enjoying is only brought by luck after players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal taking it to new heights.
"In my next life when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA, because they ride on the coattails of the men," Moore said. "They don't make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I'd go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have."
Upon hearing this, Williams commented on that statement and, as expected, it did not sit well with the tennis star.
She said: "Obviously, I don't think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that. I think Venus [Williams], myself, a number of players have been — if I could tell you every day how many people say they don't watch tennis unless they're watching myself or my sister, I couldn't even bring up that number. So I don't think that is a very accurate statement. I think there is a lot of women out there who are more … are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate."
Furthermore, she did not find the need to defend Moore, claiming that there was no way to misunderstand his statement.
Serena said: "Well, if you read the transcript, you can only interpret it one way. I speak very good English. I'm sure he does too. You know, there's only one way to interpret that. Get on your knees, which is offensive enough, and thank a man, which is not — we, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn't have to drop to our knees at any point."
