Serena answers back

Serena Williams: Courting controversy

By BBC tennis correspondent Iain Carter

Serena Williams did not like being booed during her victory in the final of the WTA's Indian Wells title on Saturday.

But that is no excuse for producing surely the most ludicrous tennis quote of 2001.

The 19-year-old former US Open champion claimed the crowd should not have behaved in such a way.

Preposterously, she later said: "C'mon, I'm just a kid."

The events of Indian Wells have for the first time seriously dented the public image of the Williams sisters.

Despite carrying an air of condescending superiority around with them, they were two always-popular, highly-talented athletes who could bash a tennis ball better than most.

Next thing you know I'm going to be pregnant by some Martian

  Serena Williams

They had been due to play each other in the semi-finals, but 10 minutes before they were due on court, Serena's older sister, the Wimbledon champion Venus, pulled out of the match claiming tendinitis in her knee.

Earlier in the week there had been newspaper speculation that matches between the two of them are rigged by their Dad, Richard.

The WTA doctors confirmed Venus's injury was genuine, although it is not unknown for a player to get out of a match they do not want to play by saying "ouch, that hurts" at the appropriate moment.

Not that I am suggesting this to be the case, merely making the point that only Venus genuinely knows whether she could have played.

And it is no secret that both sisters loathe playing against each other.

The Williams: Playing happy families

When they do, the matches invariably fail to live up to expectations and are played in a strangely surreal atmosphere.

That was certainly the case when they played their Wimbledon semi-final last year.

The match was won by Venus against a curiously muted Serena, who had previously been utterly unstoppable in her progress to the last four.

Extra-terrestrial

The conspiracy theorists reckon that Richard had told Serena to lose because she already had a Grand Slam title and Venus did not.

The Williams family deny this but the theory re-emerged last week in the National Enquirer, a downmarket American tabloid.

"Next thing you know I'm going to be pregnant by some Martian," Serena quipped in response.

And given the reputation of the Enquirer there is probably plenty of merit in that quote.

Certainly more than in the one in which Serena claims to be only a kid.

The multi-millionaire sold the right to retreat behind that defence a long time a go and for a very high price.

Those who ultimately pay her vast wages, the fans, have every right to boo whoever they like, particularly if they believe they are being taken for a ride.

It is a fact the Williams family would do well to recognise, for the benefit of themselves and their sport.