TENNIS: Dump daddy dearest

Venus and Serena Williams are siblings who happen to be some of the very best female tennis players in the world. They bring a dramatic flair and elegance to a game that has had the misfortune of being labeled as the vanilla of the professional sports. The Williams sisters’ game continues to blossom and grow more beautiful with each day on the court, almost in the fashion as a rose grows more rich and colorful with each day. The one problem here happens to be the fact that this rose is stuck dead in the middle of a ferociously sharp, briar patch.

Imagine the Williams sisters locked in a bathroom, fearful of what Richard’s explosive tirades are doing to their careers when a tennis racket smashes through the wood door revealing a hole large enough for a menace to peer his head into the hole.

“Here’s Richard….”

Enter Richard Williams, ebullient father to some of the most gifted tennis players in the world.

Richard is not like any other proud father whom watches their son or daughters play in sports competitions. His daughters happen to be some of the very best in the world and it is in his best interests to maintain their fire and strength in rankings as they compete against the likes of Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport.

It is here where the entire Williams clan is drawing the ire of many fans and fellow competitors. On March 17, after Venus pulled out of a semifinal match against Serena citing knee tendinitis, waves of controversy and allegations erupt faster than a Hawaiian volcano. Many reporters and fans claimed to have seen Venus walking around fine and questioned the extent of her injury. The Williams shenanigans finally reached a boiling point at Indian Wells, California during the Ericcson Open.

During Serena Williams’ match, every single time she won a point the crowd heckled her worse than a clown at a “Soak the Bloke” carnival stand. When Serena hit the ball into the net or double faulted, the peanut gallery erupted into thunderous cheers and applause. Clearly, the Williams Family has worn their welcome in the hearts of many tennis fans.

While many fans have booed and the public is questioning the purity of the Williams family matches, Richard claimed a far worse allegation was taking place at Indian Wells than just your typical jeering and taunting.

“The white people at Indian Wells, what they’ve been wanting to say all along finally came out: ‘N-----, stay away from here, we don’t want you here. It’s the worst act of prejudice I’ve seen since they killed Martin Luther King.”

Here’s where Joey Lawrence sticks his head in the room and says, “Whoah.”

Richard, I can certainly share your sentiments on racism. It is probably the ugliest moral crime in society for prejudiced, ignorant views to be spilled across in hateful terms. However, to claim that jeering, even in a sickly racial manner, compares to the tragic slaying of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., is an outrage in itself.

It’s just like Mike Myers’ alter ego, Wayne Campbell, used to say on ‘Wayne’s World,’ “Duhh…get the net.”

As proud a father as Richard is, his constant interference and public tirades are only going to further hinder the maturation and independence of his daughters. The more and more he barks, the more and more the fans are going to turn against Serena and Venus.

Richard thinks the fans hate him and his family. He’s only half-right; the fans hate him, not his daughters. He claims that all of the other females on the tennis circuit are jealous and bitter towards his daughters and that they make public claims just to get some publicity. Meanwhile, he showed up to a recent tennis event wearing a tee shirt with a caricature of himself on it and staged a press conference outside the stadium, pulling away hordes of the press away from the court while Andre Agassi was playing.

Richard needs to use his cranium. I really don’t know if Richard Williams gets the big picture. People are there to see his daughters play. Yet, he can not control himself from making ludicrous statements and allegations, seemingly attempting to keep himself on the same pedestal his daughters are on.

Martina Hingis says she likes the Williams sisters but basically implied that she discounts Richard Williams and his stage-stealing antics.

I’m sure a majority of the public shares her same sentiments. The more and more Richard talks, the less and less his daughters are going to be advance in the public’s eye. The fans seem to enjoy Venus and Serena but they are brought down to a low level when they are seen with their dad.

Sorry to say but it’s time for Venus and Serena to fly the coup. They are old enough to make smart, adult choices on their own and they have so many years ahead of them. It’s time for the girls to say goodbye to the one thing who could seriously harm their careers - Daddy Dearest.