Venus Spoke Up, Should Have Sat Out

What I can't figure out is how they landed on Venus Williams. Of all the people involved, how did she win the award?

"For us, it's not debatable," said Myrna Shinbaum, spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League. "We believe she stood up and spoke out forcefully. She did the right thing."

On Wednesday night, the ADL will give Williams the League's Americanism Award. She is being honored for her words after winning a tennis tournament in Dubai in February. Just before the tournament started, Israeli player Shahar Peer was denied a visa and not allowed to play. And when Williams won the tournament, she told the crowd it was "a shame that one of our players couldn't be here."

Spoke out forcefully? Not debatable?

"This is not a sports award, not a celebrity award," Shinbaum said. "We give it out to someone who deserves it. (Venus) embodied America's democratic values."

No, that can't be it. That's not what Williams did. What she did was to buckle, to pander to sponsors, to sell out another player when she had a chance to make a real statement. It wasn't only Williams, but also the other women on tour and worst of all, the tour itself. But they're not getting the award.

At least, that's how I see it. But Larry Scott, the former CEO of the Women's Tennis Association tour, who was forced to navigate through this classic moment in crisis management, believes Williams was a leader who made a grand statement in human rights in a difficult moment.

"She had a platform and a stage," Scott told me Wednesday morning. "And in front of government leaders and royal family on international TV, she called for change."

As far as I can tell, what Williams did was very little. She should have done more. She shouldn't have played at all. "A stronger stand should have been taken. I think they sort of took the easy way out."
-- Martina Navratilova

"A stronger stand should have been taken," Martina Navratilova said. "I think they sort of took the easy way out."

Scott disagrees: "There was a lot bigger impact, and more constructive impact long term through constructive engagement. Using the power of athletes being there and using their voice."

Sounds like a debate to me.

Look, Williams has been nearly an ideal face of women's tennis over the years, eloquent and elegant. But she blew it this time.

She's in or we're out. That's what she should have said before the tournament. That's what all the players should have said. Scott buckled, too.

He should have told tournament officials that Peer gets to play or the tournament is off. No room for further discussion.

The Tennis Channel was supposed to televise the tournament. Instead, it went home in protest. The Wall Street Journal, Europe edition, immediately pulled its sponsorship.

And the next week, before the men's event, Andy Roddick pulled out. At first, official word was that he had a hernia.

"Obviously, I don't have a hernia," he told reporters a few days later after a match. "I probably wouldn't have played too well today (with one). I would ask you guys to check, but that might be inappropriate."

Roddick wanted it clear why he had pulled out. He didn't like what the tournament had done to Peer.

She's in, or we're out.

Peer immediately sent Roddick an e-mail thanking him, and then thanked him again the next time she saw him at a tournament.

"For me, it was a huge thing what he did," Peer said last week in Canada. "To step up and say, 'I'm not going because one of the players' ... I think it was a huge thing because he's a very big character and a lot of people respect him."

Venus Williams is bigger. Her voice and actions carry more. If she had done what Roddick did, she would have made a far more forceful stand than merely saying it was "a shame" everyone couldn't play.

Shinbaum said that in general, the ADL is opposed to boycotts: "As a member of the Jewish community and from Israel, we are victims of boycotts. The way to go is to speak up."

But Williams, and her sister, Serena, have boycotted the tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., for years over racist comments their family said they heard in the stands. That's how she has spoken up throughout her career.

Not this time, though. And in February, with the storm growing and the WTA tour being heavily criticized, Williams made her most damning comments in answering why she chose to stay and play without Peer: "I have to look at the bigger picture. The big picture is that Shahar Peer didn't get a chance to play. But making an immediate decision, we also have to look at sponsors, fans and everyone who has invested a lot in the tournament ...

"Whatever we do, we need to do as a team – players, sponsors, tour and whoever – and not all break off in one direction. We are team players."

Peer is a member of that team. And it's sickening to hear Williams referring to dollars and sponsors as the bigger picture, placing them ahead of morals and ethics.

Yet she won the award.

On Wednesday morning, I told Scott, now commissioner of the Pac 10 Conference, that I thought he had made the wrong move. Look at the results, he said.

Tournament officials said that the issue over Peer wasn't about prejudice, but because Israel's attacks in the Gaza Strip were going to make for serious security issues at the tournament, in the United Arab Emirates.

A week later, though, Israeli player Andy Ram was admitted into the tournament. And the tournament now vows to allow Peer in next year.

"It's validation of the stance we took," Scott said. "The government changed its policy."

Of course, that might have had something to do with sponsors and with Roddick withdrawing. And the truth is, the tournament got exactly what it wanted: a successful event with no Israeli players.

Scott also fined the Dubai tournament $300,000. Tournament officials appealed, saying it was a government issue, and not the decision of the tournament. The fine was upheld; the tournament had pulled an 11th hour trick to keep Peer out.

The day before the main draw, Scott got word that Peer had been denied. With little time, he called dozens of people, including Peer in Thailand and the Williams sisters.

"Shahar Peer was the first one I spoke to," he said. "You can imagine the emotional state she was in. She felt awkward, upset, victimized. But she told me she didn't want other players to have to suffer just because she was being singled out."

Yes, but what else was she going to say? It was up to her teammates, including Williams, Scott and the International Tennis Federation, to take the action.

Venus, Scott said, is a spokesperson and leader for the game, and the Williams sisters were experienced in dealing with discrimination and would have "particular sensitivity on this issue."

Sponsors and dollars were considered, Scott said, but more important was how to effect change.

But why not just tell the sponsors to pressure the tournament immediately? She's in or we're out. Scott said there wasn't time for that.

From there, the issue blew up for Scott. The players went on without Peer, and he spent the next week calling everyone from sponsors to the ADL, from other sports leaders to Billie Jean King.

King felt the tournament should have been canceled. "She was not alone," Scott said.

Peer spoke about it again last week, saying the tour backed her. But she saved her strongest words for Roddick.

He made the ultimate statement: She's in or we're out. And Venus won the award.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com