World No. 1 Serena Williams Announces Return to Indian Wells

By City News Service:

Ending a 14-year boycott, tennis superstar Serena Williams announced Wednesday she will return to Indian Wells to play in the BNP Paribas Open next month.

Williams, the world’s top-ranked women’s player, wrote in a column published on the website Time.com that she was returning to the tournament in a spirit of “forgiveness,” although she said the relentless booing she received from fans when she last played in the event in 2001 haunted her for a long time.

“When I was booed at Indian Wells -- by what seemed like the whole world -- my voice of doubt became real,” she wrote. “I didn’t understand what was going on in that moment. But worse, I had no desire to even win. It happened very quickly.”

Williams won the tournament that year, but she her sister Venus were booed by fans when their head-to-head semifinal match was scrubbed due to an injury suffered by Venus. After the match, another player who was asked in a news conference who would have won the match between the sisters said their father, Richard, would probably decide -- an insinuation that their matches were rigged.

“The false allegations that our matches were fixed hurt, cut and ripped into us deeply,” she wrote. “The under-current of racism was painful, confusing and unfair. In a game I loved with all my heart, at one of my most cherished tournaments, I suddenly felt unwelcome, alone and afraid.”

When Williams played in that year’s tournament final -- which she won -- she was booed throughout the match.

Williams, now 33, also won the tournament in 1999. She has 19 Grand Slam singles titles in her career, including the Australian Open that she won last week.

“We are thrilled that Serena Williams, one of the greatest women players in the history of the game, is returning to play in the BNP Paribas Open,” said Raymond Moore, Indian Wells Tennis Garden CEO. “We know our fans will welcome her for the magnificent champion that she is, and we really look forward to watching her compete again at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.”

In accepting the invitation to play in the tournament, Williams also announced that fans who donate $10 or more to the Equal Justice Initiative -- which provides legal services to people who have been “denied fair and just treatment in the legal system” -- will be entered in a drawing for courtside seats.

The tournament will be held March 9-22.

Williams said she sees her return to Indian Wells is “a chance to write a different ending.”

“Indian Wells was a pivotal moment of my story, and I am a part of the tournament’s story as well,” she wrote.

(Image via YouTube)