Much has been said about the Williams Sisters' 2001 Indian Wells Controversy but not quite like this. Check out Craig Hickman's FINAL WORD on the subject. It's an awesome piece on what happened and what should (and should not) have happened. Hats off to Mr. Hickman, I agree with you 100% and I could not have said it better.
Serena and Venus Williams have informed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour they will comply with appearance and publicity requirements that will allow them to not play the premier-status Indian Wells tournament (March 11-22) without being suspended. A WTA source said the sisters will do "promotional activities in the tournament market," which extends from Indian Wells and Palm Springs, Calif., to Los Angeles. 
With the passage of the WTA's new Roadmap, which streamlines the schedule of tournaments, Indian Wells became one of four premier events that all top 10 players would be required to play. Initially, the tour announced that any top 10 player who declined to play a premier tournament without a legitimate medical excuse would be suspended for the next two premier events. That resulted in more acrimony as Richard Williams threatened to sue the WTA if his daughters were suspended from playing their home town premier event at Key Biscayne, Fl. -- the Sony Ericsson Open.
Tour CEO Larry Scott spent months trying to negotiate a compromise that would return the sisters to Indian Wells, but the Williamses would not relent. The WTA has since put into place stipulations that any player declining to play an event for personal reasons could avoid suspension by doing a series of personal appearances promoting the tournament they were avoiding. "The exact date for the performance of those activities, and the specific activities will be determined by the tour shortly," a WTA spokesman said.
During the Serena vs. Venus match at the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King cup, Serena's conditioning coach, Mackie Shilstone, said the following:
Mackie Shilstone is Serena's Conditioning Coach and one of America's most influential sports performance managers, whose expertise has played a pivotal role in the success and longevity of scores of million-dollar world-class athletes. Over 1000 professional athletes have turned to Mackie to give them the body, the drive, the stamina, and the performance they need to win. Mackie has also transformed the lives of hundreds of everyday people struggling with health and weight problems, poor nutrition, and lack of motivation. To Mackie, there are no barriers between professional athletes and the average person, only different target goals and differing training times to reach those goals. 
With a Master's degree in both nutrition and business administration, Mackie is the Executive Director of the Center for Performance Enhancement and Lifestyle Management at the Elmwood Fitness Center, a division of Ochsner Clinic Foundation. This is the only program of its kind in the world, centered on Mackie's unique, cutting-edge expertise. He is a Clinical Instructor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Louisiana State Health Sciences Center, Adjunct Instructor in the School of Allied Health at Nicholls State University, Adjunct Professor at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, special advisor to the United States Olympic Committee on Sports Nutrition, and has served on the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. 
The astonishing results of Mackie's work with top athletes are constantly reported in magazines and newspapers across the country. Over 2,000 articles, appearing in print media such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, People magazine, and Inc., have praised the Mackie Shilstone method. KO Magazine voted him among the top 50 most influential people in the history of boxing. Mackie has also appeared on most of the major news shows in the country, including ESPN, the Today show, HBO, and Good Morning America. On a 48 Hours expose of the diet industry, Mackie was heralded as the weight control guru for top athletes in the country.
Mackie also appears weekly on The WWL Morning Show, the highest rated per capita, per household CBS affiliate in the nation. Examples of his segments, which are always changing, include Fitness Kitchen, which offers healthy recipes to viewers, and Yoga with Mackie and Meg. Mackie's segments are also shown on the Morning Show web site on the Internet, WWLTV.COM, which receives 30,000 hits per month. Mackie's Health Minute is heard by 30,000 regional listeners, twice a day during drive time at 6:15 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. on 50,000-watt WWL-870 AM.
During the Serena vs. Ana match at the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, the commentators had great things to say about Serena: 
Major players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have joined forces with the Australian tennis community to raise funds and rebuild the areas recently affected by the bush fires in New South Wales. Players from around the world have sent messages of support and donated signed equipment, clothing and money toward aiding the fire-affected communities.
Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris has teamed with tennis superstar Serena Williams to help kick-off a contest aimed at creating a theme song for her matches. The "Serena's Song" contest is in association with Ludacris' WeMix music site and will be open to any and all musicians who enter. The nationwide songwriting competition invites independent musicians, songwriters, producers, rappers and singers to submit original music inspired by and about Serena Williams. Ms. Williams will select her personal favorite songs as Finalists, and the winner will be chosen by the online communities at WeMix.com and Ms. Williams' redesigned website serenawilliams.com.
