Serena's Withdrawal Questioned

Serena’s Withdrawal Questioned

By LISA DILLMAN

June 22, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WIMBLEDON, England —

Was it the draw that made Serena Williams sick?

The combination of two facts had two HBO commentators wonder--on the air--whether the 10th-seeded Williams really was sick enough to withdraw from Wimbledon.

1) A week ago (Tuesday), Serena Williams was put in the same area of the Wimbledon draw as older sister Venus, to meet in the fourth round, if form held.

2) Two days later, Serena Williams withdrew from singles and doubles. The WTA received a fax from her father, Richard. There was only a comment from Richard, not Serena.

The tournament started Monday.

“You don’t withdraw on a Thursday when you may not have to play until Tuesday or Wednesday of the next week,” Martina Navratilova said on HBO on Monday. “Either Serena had another injury or didn’t want to play against her sister, Venus, for whatever reason.

“I just wish they would tell the truth, because flu is not the truth. She may be a little sick, but not that sick.”

Last year, Serena retired in the second set of a third-round match against Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain at Wimbledon, citing a leg injury. So Ruano Pascual moved on to play Venus in the fourth round, not Serena. Nevertheless, Serena later was able to play--and win--the mixed doubles event.

“I think it’s a family thing,” Billie Jean King said. “There’s a dilemma there. They are not sure how they want to handle it when they find they may play early in a tournament.”

Virginia Wade, of the BBC, also wondered about the coincidence. Venus Williams, who is seeded sixth, was asked about her sister’s absence. “She’s sick,” said Venus, a 6-1, 7-5 first-round winner against Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands. “I guess it’s the flu. It would be the flu.”

Of course, these questions weren’t being asked about Marcelo Rios, Alex Corretja and Amelie Mauresmo, all missing the event because of injuries and illnesses.

Anna Kournikova of Russia survived a tough test, defeating Barbara Schwartz of Austria, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-2. Then she moved through the horde of excited teenage boys, entered the interview room and denied she had a boyfriend, despite the constant presence of Sergei Fedorov of the Detroit Red Wings.

Then Kournikova defended her doubles partner and buddy, Martina Hingis, who received sharp criticism for her petulant behavior in the French Open final loss to Steffi Graf.

“This was not something outrageous,” she said. “We’ve seen something crazy before, like reacting to line calls, [John] McEnroe, or whoever, so I don’t think it was something new for tennis. It was just something new in women’s tennis.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s Featured Matches

MEN

* Cristiano Caratti, Italy, vs. Patrick Rafter (2), Australia

* Andrei Pavel, Romania, vs. Andre Agassi (4)

* Richard Krajicek (5), Netherlands, vs. Christian Ruud, Norway

* Todd Martin (8) vs. Hendrik Dreekmann, Germany

* Mikael Tillstrom, Sweden, vs. Goran Ivanisevic (10), Croatia

* Chris Wilkinson, Britain, vs. Gustavo Kuerten (11), Brazil

* Tommy Haas (14), Germany, vs. Peter Wessels, Netherlands

* Nicolas Kiefer (15), Germany, vs. Christian Vinck, Germany

****