Venus Williams Testifies She Didn’t Know About Battle of Sexes Match
Venus Williams testified yesterday that she didn’t know about the Battle of the Sexes exhibition until after they’d been sued for it.
“I didn’t know anything about this until the litigation,” Venus Williams told jurors hearing the breach of contract lawsuit brought by would-be promoters Carol Clarke and Keith Rhodes, principals in a company known as CCKR. The sisters, along with their father, Richard Williams, and his company, Richard Williams Tennis & Associates, are accused of reneging on a promise to participate in the match.
Venus Williams made her claims despite testimony that her attorney and her father were negotiating with IMG to have a waiver signed so that CCKR could put on the tennis exhibition.
Venus Williams took the witness stand after her father, who says he lied to Clarke about his daughters’ knowledge of the exhibition. He did so, he said, because Clarke promised to help him reconcile with his then-wife, Oracene, from whom he is now divorced.
Wow.
The issue of who had the ability to make commitments on the women’s behalf is the crux of the suit. Three years worth of Venus Williams’ tax returns - 1999, 2000 and 2001 - indicate that she paid her father about $1.6 million in coaching and management fees. Richard Williams tax returns for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 show that he claimed almost $2 million in management fees for his daughters over that period.
Also, Venus Williams stated that her dad was never her manager because he “doesn’t have the know-how to be a manager.” He was simply her coach.
More at Sun Sentinel
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