MOSCOW, Jan 19 President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpischev does not regret that he called the American tennis players sisters Venus and Serena Williams brothers. The incident occurred on the air of the Evening Urgant show in 2014 and caused a wide resonance in the world tennis community. Subsequently, Tarpishchev apologized to the tennis players.
"Was it embarrassing? Who am I ashamed of? I did a linguistic examination of my text here and sent them — there is nothing at all. So I didn't feel guilty at all. I say: well, if they perceive it that way, I, of course, can apologize, but according to the text it is not so. That is, I had many arguments that are undeniable", RTVI quotes Tarpishchev.
Tarpishchev noted that by calling the Williams sisters brothers, he wanted to emphasize their strength. “I don’t think I’m the first to call them that. McEnroe said in the comments that they, like two KamAZ trucks, demolish everything and nothing. I don’t see anything wrong with that. But it’s interesting, my rating went up right away. By the way, when they wrote to the IOC that sanctions were imposed on me, the ethical commission at the IOC did not even consider it,» he added.