Serena and Venus Williams continued to cast long shadows at the WTA Tour Championships on Sunday, when they were conspicuous absentees from a parade of former top-ranked players at a ceremony honouring the 30th anniversary of the WTA Tour.
Both of the Williams sisters skipped the $3-million season finale, Serena citing her recovery from knee surgery and Venus the lingering effects of an abdominal strain.
Neither has played since they met in the Wimbledon final.
”It’s too bad they didn’t make it,” Martina Navratilova said.
”Serena was in town. I don’t know where Venus is.”
The former world number ones who were on hand included not only Navratilova — who had a doubles match afterward — but also her longtime rival Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, current world number one Kim Clijsters and soon-to-be world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne.
”I think Justin and Kim got a kick out of it,” Navratilova said.
”You get the feeling of being part of such a special sport. If players come to things like this, they would understand. But you have to make the effort.”
She pooh-poohed the idea that such a public appearance would put pressure on the sisters.
”You just take your bow and bask in the applause,” said Navratilova, who received the loudest ovation of any of the players.
She attributed that in large part to longevity.
”Most of these people that are here, they grew up watching us play, she said of herself and Evert. ”Because we were out there for so long, that’s why we get the applause.”
Other former number ones who failed to turn up were Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Monica Seles.
”From what I understand, there was some miscommunication, because some of the players only found out about it a couple of days ago,” Navratilova said. ”That’s what I heard.”
Evert, too, was reluctant to criticise.
”I don’t know everybody’s situation,” she said. ”I don’t want to make a judgment. If there are players who could have made it easily, it’s too bad. I think it was pretty successful.
King spoke passionately of the creation of the women’s tour by the founding nine members and the progress it has made.
But Navratilova said progress had slowed since the first decade of the tour’s existence.
”The most progress was in the first 10 years. The next 15 years were kind of static,” she said, adding that while the tennis being played had improved, the structure of the circuit had not kept pace.
Asked if today’s players shirked a responsibility to give back to the game, she acknowledged that it was difficult for players at the peaks of their career to concern themselves with tour issues.
”For the top players it’s really difficult to put in the time,” she said. — Sapa-AFP