Fourteen years can certainly be a long time in sport, and nobody knows this better than Serena Williams, who made the brave return to Indian Wells earlier this month after her sensational exit from the tournament in 2001.
Indian Wells, which today is hosting the BNP Paribas Open, holds particularly painful memories for Serena. Back when she was just 19 years old, she was due to face off against her older sister, Venus. When Venus pulled out of the match with a tendonitis injury, Serena was met with taunts from the crowds, as well as racist remarks and claims of match fixing by her father. She vowed to boycott the event from there on.
Today however, Serena has made a brave and indeed triumphant return to the tournament. The World Number One saw off stiff competition from Timea Bacsinszky to make her way into the semi-finals of the event, and now, spectators everywhere are heading over to www.bettingsports.com to place a wager on Serena taking the title.
Top seed Serena managed to beat the Swiss 7-5, 6-3, extending her total winning streak to 15 matches. She will now play Romanian Simona Halep in the final four. Whilst some bettors may have their eye on Serena to take the title however, it seems she is just happy to have made it as far as she has, but the star also admits she can play better.
She said: “I’m just happy I was able to get through and still be alive in this tournament when I haven’t clearly been the Serena that we all know.
“The only thing is I know can I play a lot better. I really take a lot of solace in that. “Even if I don’t win this event, I know I can play a tremendous amount better than what I have been playing.”
Over on the men’s side, both Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray advanced to the semi-finals recently. It was a particularly satisfying win for British side Andy Murray, who, with 497 wins, has now overtaken Tim Henman who the highest amount of career wins by a Brit in the Open Era.
With the sensational return of Serena Williams and Andy Murray’s added motivation to take the title, we could just be in for one of the most exciting BNP Paris Open finals in the event’s long history.
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