Tennis Stars Stay Home Despite Critics From Afar

For Lindsay Davenport, the decision whether to travel to Moscow for this week’s Kremlin Cup was not a difficult one. She withdrew, as did Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Venus Williams.

Many of the top American women have not been playing since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

But the security concerns of Williams and Davenport were dismissed as “absurd” by the Kremlin Cup women’s tournament director Aleksi Selivanenko.

“Moscow is the safest place in the world and any reference to a security reason not to play is absurd,” Selivanenko told Reuters last week. “Of course, we are all troubled by the events, but it is not our fault.”

The lack of understanding bothered Davenport.

“There were so many issues about going to Moscow that it was a pretty easy decision not to go,” she said. “Everything that happened on Sept. 11 is so scary and traumatic to every American and leaving to play tennis in Europe just did not interest me at this point.”

Davenport did not want to be away from home during this period, nor did Williams, a tour spokesperson said, for obvious reasons.

“I really did not want to be in Moscow if and when the U.S. takes military action,” Davenport said. “I am pretty sure that is reasonable. I think it is a shame that the tournament director in Moscow cannot understand how sensitive American players are right now and the priorities that we have and instead criticize us and only worry about his tournament is Moscow.”

The only American woman in the draw at Moscow is Alexandra Stevenson, who qualified.

Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Monica Seles withdrew from the Tokyo Princess Cup last month, but Seles is playing another event in Japan this week.

Capriati is scheduled to resume playing next week at Filderstadt, Germany. Davenport’s timetable remains fluid.

“I am not sure when I am going to play again, but I hope it is again this year,” she said.