The Williams sisters Venus and Serena have today withdrawn from the doubles competition at the French Open. The official reason given was that they wanted to enable Serena to concentrate on the singles event but speculation is rife that the surprise withdrawal was prompted by the intense heckling Serena suffered during her first-round victory over local girl Sarah Pitkowski on Monday.
After the match when asked by the press why she suffered such heckling from the crowd, Serena replied: "I don't know, I don't really care." The Williams sisters are known not to be the most popular women on the ladies' tour, and it was evident in Pitkowski's comments after her match with Serena. "She smiled at times but she wasn't smiling genuine. Even in the locker room she wasn't sure of herself. She realised that she had a real fighter as an opponent whereas before I didn't exist," explained the French girl.
"This time I showed her I was actually there and she had to contend with me. When I play somebody who is not as good as me I try and win the psychological battle. I was actually able to provoke her so she had to look me square in the eyes a couple of times. I was quite happy about that," she added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
