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Hard to handle Father Williams paces All England grounds during match
Posted: Thursday July 06, 2000 05:03 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- For Richard Williams, Centre Court was like a 'Roman arena,' and he couldn't bear to watch. Williams spoke of his daughters as "gladiators" in a savage setting. With one "condemned to die" in their historic semifinal Thursday, he walked away through the streets surrounding the All England Club. He didn't see a single point and refused to eavesdrop when reporters trailing behind offered him a radio. When a cellular phone rang with word that Venus had beaten Serena 6-2, 7-6 (3), Williams' bloodshot eyes teared up. "I was crying when I heard Serena lost," said Williams, 58, a tall, robust but slightly stooped man who grew up picking cotton in Louisiana. "Tears came to my eyes then. To sit there and watch it, I couldn't do that. "This was too emotional for me. I didn't sleep last night. I kept trying to go to sleep so finally I had to stay up and read. I would say about 2 o'clock I drank a beer. I thought that would put me to sleep, but that didn't do it either. "I'm happy it's over with. It's been a major-league stress on me." Richard Williams has been criticized for being too close to his daughters. But when they landed in the semifinals, he couldn't get far enough away. Unpredictable, he found a stranger's funeral to attend only to learn the service was Wednesday instead of Thursday. "I didn't have a place to go," he said as the showdown neared. After watching his daughters warm up together on Court No. 4 -- a long lob from Centre Court -- Richard Williams walked off the All England Club grounds and away from history. "I was way out there above on that hill, turning and going south for a while," he said, describing it as a "four-cigarette walk" and pointing away from the ivy and green of tennis' most famous venue. "There was a lot of newspaper people following me. At first it was a little frightening but I got through it." Suggestions that he may have influenced the outcome of the match didn't fluster him. Politely, he said people can say what they wish just like they have about his unconventional coaching. "I can't respond to no one, I think people have a right to say whatever they wish to say. ... It seems like they would give me the same opportunity, though," he said. Williams is unpredictable, but when he rushed back to Wimbledon, he did what any father would for a beloved 18-year-old daughter, hugging Serena as she and Venus left the locker room. "That's my baby, that's the last child that was born to me," he said. "I felt sympathy for Serena, very much so, very much so. Serena was very sad and disappointed because she felt she should have won. Serena hates losing. Nothing bothers Serena more than to lose." With the sisters almost sure to meet again in a Grand Slam, Richard Williams admitted he will someday have to break down and watch his girls in a crucial match. But he sets high standards. "Eventually I will, yes," he said. "But I wouldn't mind watching today if it was the finals. But the quarterfinals, semifinals, I don't want to see nothing like that." He has the match on tape. First he said he was headed to the family's rented house nearby to watch it, but then changed his mind and would view it "in a few weeks." "I won't watch it on tape here," he said. As Venus left the club carrying a bouquet of red roses, her father helped her into the car, closed the door and confided what advice he'd give her for Saturday's final against defending champion Lindsay Davenport. "She's (Venus) going to have to get past this really fast because Lindsay is going to come out swinging, and we're going to be swinging," he said. "And we've just got to swing a little faster and a little harder." Asked who would win, he broke into a broad smile. "You know I know who's going to win," he said.
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