Shamil Tarpischev, the President of the Russian Tennis Federation, is in the middle of a huge controversy after some comments he made during a broadcast about the Williams’ sisters.
Tarpischev calling Serena and Venus “the Williams brothers” was not a great diplomatic move. The WTA suspended the Russian for 1 year and he was fined $25.000.
Tarpischev issue a formal statement where he apologized about his remarks and he also stressed the fact that they could be misinterpreted. (see statement below)
The Russian also added “I’m sorry that the joke which was taken out of context and attracted so much attention. I think this story does not deserve the attention it is receiving. Everything that I said on TV was said without a malicious intent.”
