Friday, March 20, 2009

Venus and Serena fined for missing Indian Wells

Fox Sports makes it clear where its editorial staff stands with regard to the Williams sisters' skipping the BNP Paribas Open. Referring to the "stubborn sisters," an article on the Fox website reports that Serena will lose $438,000 from the year-end bonus pool, and Venus will lose $219,000.

The sisters maintain that anger toward Venus Williams took a racist tone when they played in Indian Wells in 2000. There has been nothing but controversy ever since--about whether there really was a racism problem, and--if there was--about whether the sisters should put it behind them.

There will be controversy about the fine, too. Some will think it is not harsh enough, and some will think there should be no fine. The new tour rules state that if a player does not have a legitimate reason for skipping mandatory event, she must do promotional work instead. It appears that Venus and Serena opted out of that alternative.

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