Tennis: Williams dad heaps abuse at challengers

Dancing a self-important jig on court after his daughter's convincing title win at the U.S. Open doesn't seem to have been enough for eccentric tennis dad Richard Williams. The former jack-of-all-trades from a Californian ghetto took the Saturday night victory by Venus Williams over Lindsay Davenport for a second straight Grand Slam crown, as an excuse to heap abuse on his daughter's beaten opponents during the fortnight.

New York newspapers today quoted Williams as claiming that 1.70-metre-tall top seed Martina Hingis, Williams' semi-final victim, was shrinking. He also called the 24-year-old Davenport 'old'. The outburst came after Wimbledon winner Williams added 800,000 dollars to the family coffers with her second Grand Slam title.

Younger sister Serena won it a year ago, prompting the Svengali-like senior Williams to predict the start of a personal tennis dynasty. Williams pere was unbridled in his contempt for Hingis, who has swapped world number one status with Davenport for the past two years without either Williams getting to within a sniff of the top.

"Hingis is an inch shorter than when I first met her," the unschooled 'coach' said. "She should come to me and say 'Master Williams, I want you to help me.' And I could help her." Williams said he would refer Hingis to a drug-using 'friend' of his from the California ghetto. The grizzled Williams than branched off into the absurd, "When he's not high, he's a surgeon. He could saw her legs off and attach new legs that are a couple of inches longer. Her legs are too short to run down the ball."

Williams continued his outburst, "I don't think Hingis and Lindsay Davenport can raise their games to the bar that we've set. I can't see Hingis getting any better - and Lindsay is getting older and slower."

Davenport said she didn't bother to watch the outrageous Williams' post-win behaviour on court prior to the trophy ceremony, as the father came uninvited out of the stands. "I always turn my head, better not to see how they act," she said.

Williams has never been a picture of stability ever since his daughters came on to the tennis scene. Several years ago, he was predicting they would be duelling for world number one status, something that has yet to occur. He preferred to pace the leafy green streets of Wimbledon instead of watching Venus play Serena in a Wimbledon semi-final in July, and skipped out of the stadium late in Venus' match against Hingis on Friday, saying he had to attend a 'business meeting.'

And despite the fact that she is to miss the next three months of the tennis season to return to fashion school, Venus remains convinced that she is the best there is, ranking or not. "I always feel like I'm the best player. Number one is definitely one of my goals. I'm trying," she said.

PA

Filed by Shane Murray