Here's what happened and some new news about her. I want to know when Negro became a racial slur.
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<H1>SERENA'S HECKLER DENIES SAYING 'NEGRO': Man says comments never turned racial; also Serena defies rule to continue Indian Wells boycott.</H1>
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<DIV id=eur_story_date>(March 30, 2007)
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*The Sony Ericson Open heckler who was tossed out of the venue for taunting Serena Williams has denied that he used racial slurs against the tennis champ, as she has claimed.
Williams said the man, 51-year-old Donald Winton, jeered her non-stop during her third-round match against Lucie Safarova, which she eventually won 6-3, 6-4. According to Williams, he said: "Hit the net like any Negro would."
Hinton told the Miami Herald he said no such thing.
'I said she was lazy, that she didn't run for balls -- stuff like that -- but I did not say the N-word or use any racial language," he maintains.
Fans and security staff, however, confirmed that the man heckled Williams inappropriately, tournament director Adam Barrett said. Winton was issued a no-trespass warning from Miami-Dade police.
"They told me I said derogatory remarks and made her feel uncomfortable, and that's why I had to leave," Winton told The Herald.
In addition to the alleged use of "Negro," Williams said Winton barked comments about her level of play. Due to the small crowd in the stadium for her late-afternoon match, Williams said she could hear the heckler between points and during them.
"Every time I missed a shot or a serve, he would say, 'That's the way to do it,'" she said. "He was calling, 'Foot fault.' He was saying, 'Hit in the net.' ... I mean, who does this? That's so elementary. You don't do this on a professional level."
Winton told the Herald in response: "I'm at my wit's end about this. I didn't say a word the whole first set; ... in the second set I said some stuff and I guess she didn't like it, but I didn't say what she said I said."
At press time, Serena Williams (13) was facing 14th ranked Shahar Peer of Israel in a semi-final match.
In other Serena news regarding race, the tennis star says she will continue to boycott the Indian Wells (California) tournament. despite rules making participation mandatory.
The Williams family says they were victims of racially-motivated boos from the crowd after Serena's older sister Venus withdrew from the tournament just before a semifinal match against her younger sibling in 2001.
"I can guarantee you the chances of getting me to Indian Wells are slim to none, unless  I'm not going to go back. I have no interest in going. It's just how I feel. And I think anyone that went through what I went through would feel a similar position," Serena said Wednesday.
The new WTA Tour rules, announced Tuesday and taking effect in 2009, require players to participate in four events  Indian Wells, Key Biscayne and new tournaments in Madrid and Beijing. Top-10 players who miss mandatory tournaments will be subject to suspensions and larger fines than in the past. Larry Scott, chief executive of the WTA Tour, said there would be no exceptions.
Serena Williams said she needed to "have a sit-down and powwow with Larry Scott, because we haven't had a chance to talk about it."
