Serena Williams slams Indian Wells boss Raymond Moore for sexist 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 at his annual state of the tournament press conference on Sunday morning.

Not surprisingly, 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena was scathing in her response. “Obviously, I don’t think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that,” Serena 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,” Serena said.

“So I don’t think that is a very accurate statement. I think there is a lot of women out there who are very exciting to watch. “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,” she added.
A swift backlash had Moore 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.
“I am truly sorry for those remarks, and apologize to all the players and WTA as a whole. “We had a women’s final today that reflects the strength of the players, especially Serena and Victoria, and the entire WTA. Again, I am truly sorry for my remarks,” he added. But Serena said there was no mistaking their meaning.