Richard Williams made the allegations at the Ericsson Open,where his daughters both won fourth-round matches Monday. "The white people at Indian Wells, what they've been wanting tosay all along to us finally came out: 'N-----, stay away from here,we don't want you here,' " Williams said. The crowd booed the family March 17 after Venus pulled out ofher semifinal match against Serena, citing knee tendinitis. Thewithdrawal sparked a new round of speculation that the result ofmatches between the sisters is predetermined by their father, whichthe family denies. Taunts by the crowd went beyond suspicions of match-fixing,Richard Williams said. "It's the worst act of prejudice I've seen since they killedMartin Luther King," Williams said. He said that as he and Venuswere walking to their seats for the final, about a dozen fans usedthe racial slur and one spoke of skinning him alive. Williams said he resisted a temptation to respond. Instead, hesaid, he watched near tears as fans jeered Serena and cheered whenshe double faulted en route to a victory over Kim Clijsters. Hecharacterized the crowd as white and wealthy, with all but about athousand fans in the crowd of 16,000 booing his daughter. "That's the hardest time in the world I've ever had," Williamssaid. "I'll never go to Indian Wells again, because I believe thatguy would skin me alive." Asked about her father's allegations, Venus said: "I heard whathe heard." She declined to elaborate. Williams developed his daughters into Grand Slam champions buthas a history of outrageous comments. Top-ranked Martina Hingis,who didn't attend the Indian Wells final, said she likes thesisters but discounted Richard Williams' allegations. "I think it's total nonsense," Hingis said. "I don't feellike there is any racism on the tour. It's a very internationalsport, and I even would say because they may be black, they have alot of advantages. ... They can always say it's racism." During the 1997 U.S. Open, Richard Williams alleged that acollision between Irina Spirlea and Venus Williams on a changeoverwas racially motivated. Indian Wells officials didn't return phone calls seekingcomment. Charles Pasarell, director of the Indian Wells tournament,told USA Today he was embarrassed by the boos. As for racialtaunting, Pasarell said, "If Richard says someone yelledsomething, maybe they did, but I know that's not Indian Wellspeople." Serena Williams said she hadn't spoken to her father about hisallegations and couldn't confirm them. "I'm not really trying to get involved in any type ofcontroversy," she said. "I stick by my dad and know that he'susually a very true-hearted person." Wearing a T-shirt bearing a caricature of himself, Williamsmanaged once again to upstage action on the court Monday. The mediasection was nearly empty during Andre Agassi's victory, whileoutside the stadium reporters and cameras surrounded Williams as hespoke. He said reporters erred by writing about unsubstantiatedallegations of match-fixing, and he accused other players on theWTA Tour of jealousy toward his family. "The girls that play professional tennis are always sayingsomething about me," he said. "The only way those girls get theirnames in the paper – they would have to say something about me.Otherwise no one would write about them." Williams said he'll let his daughters decide whether to play atIndian Wells again. He praised Ericsson fans, who have cheered forhis daughters and reserved their boos for line judges and chairumpires. "This reception here at the Ericsson has been tremendous," hesaid. "You can see the results with the score today. Serena wasn'tbeing booed so she was able to play her game."
