Serena Slams Indian Wells Boss for ’Women Riding Men’s Coattails’ Remark

INDIAN WELLS: World number one Serena Williams ripped “offensive” remarks by Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore, who claimed women’s tennis was riding on the coattails of the men’s game.

“If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport,” Moore, a 69-year-old former player from South Africa told reporters as his annual state of the tournament press conference on Sunday morning.

Not surprisingly, 21-time Grand Slam champion Williams was scathing in her response.

“Obviously, I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that,” Williams said.

“If I could tell you every day how many people say they don’t watch tennis unless they’re watching myself or my sister, I couldn’t even bring up that number,” Williams said.

“I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate.”

Williams said she quickly became aware of Moore’s remarks via social media, even though she was busy Sunday morning preparing to meet Victoria Azarenka in the women’s final which the Belarusian won in straight sets.

A swift backlash to Moore’s comments, which also included remarks on the physical attractiveness of some of the WTA’s rising stars, had him issuing an apology even before the men’s Masters final between Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic was completed.

“At my morning breakfast with the media, I made comments about the WTA that were in extremely poor taste and erroneous,” Moore said in a statement.

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