Serena Williams Withdraws From Her Indian Wells SF, Here’s What She Told The Crowd [Video]

ESPN broke the news when they came on at 11pm ET revealing word at the tournament was that Serena Williams was uncertain for her Friday night scheduled semifinal against World No. 3 Simona Halep due to a right knee injury. The rumor soon became fact while Jelena Jankovic and Sabine Lisicki slugged it out for their spot in the final.

Of course the backdrop is Venus similarly withdrew just minutes before her semifinal against Serena in 2001. When the tournament announced the cancellation of the match, the crowd booed and then booed again when the Williams’s entered the stadium to watch Serena play Kim Clijsters in the final.

It was an ugly scene, one so ugly that it kept the sisters from attending the event again. But Serena changed her mind and played in 2014, ending a 14-year boycott. So the stage was set:

Fortunately, things went off about as well as they could have. Serena, though, will have to worry about the knee with Miami a week away.