Serena Williams' withdrawal yesterday from the du
Maurier Canadian Open 20 minutes prior to her scheduled
match due to a shoulder injury and her "bailing out" of a
function on Tuesday with tournament sponsor BMW 10 minutes
prior to her appearance, has "infuriated" Canadian Open
Tournament Dir Jane Wynne, according to Mary Ormsby of the
TORONTO STAR. Wynne: "I'm very upset the way everything was
handled. ... From an organizational point of view, a few
hours warning would have been nice." Williams: "I really
feel for the fans and the tournament director. I definitely
think I let some people down (but) I really wish I was able
to play." Wynne: "The girls (Serena and Venus) are smart
and they behave in a very nice manner but (this behaviour)
is not acceptable to the sponsors, it's not acceptable to
the tournament and it's not acceptable to the fans" (TORONTO
STAR, 8/19). In Toronto, Robert MacLeod writes that
tournament organizers "are seething" as Williams' "last-
minute withdrawal left" officials "scrambling to shift
another third-round match to Centre Court to appease fans."
The Williams-Talaja match was to be the featured event in
front of more than 9,000 fans and TSN was set to broadcast
it live. Williams' father Richard said that Serena "had
never agreed" to make the BMW appearance, but MacLeod's
sources say the whole arrangement was settled the week
before. Officials managed to "persuade" Jana Novotna to
make an appearance in Williams' place (GLOBE & MAIL, 8/19).
