Venus and Serena may be making headlines with their statements on court alright, but Richard Williams is not far behind as far as making statements goes. The father of the famous sister act in tennis is much more than a shrewd tennis tactician, he believes in speaking his mind out, no matter what — even if it hurts his near and dear ones!

On the eve of the Bangalore Open, the biggest tennis extravaganza in the country, Richard pointed out that Serena hasn't recovered completely from the hamstring injury that plagued her during Wimbledon last year. “Serena needs to take a long break, maybe six months off the circuit, give her body some rest,” Richard said.

In the absence of his daughters at the $600,000 Tier II event draw ceremony on Sunday, Richard had the spotlight riveted on him, having the select audience waiting on his every word. He walked in with Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj. Later, he walked the Raj Bhavan lawns alone, taking in everything he could.

The bust of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, caught his attention. He looked at it intently. “All you see from that statue is the glasses. Glasses and greatness, and of course the simplicity,” he remarked.

“The great man, he went to Africa and then got back to his country and struggled for Independence,” he went on.

“I still see some struggle out here, the struggle against poverty. Driving back to the hotel, we saw people living on the sidewalks, six to seven people sharing food from one plate. It is disturbing.

“In the place I come from, Compton, it's a different struggle. You have people blowing their heads off. Thankfully here, there are no shoot-outs like that,” he pointed out.

Richard didn't need any prodding, it just was an impromptu talk. “This is my first visit to India and I'll definitely come here again. I have heard so much about the country.”

When one reporter asked him about the Bangalore Open, Richard paused and then said: “Look at the struggle that great (Gandhi) man went through. When I see people eating on the sidewalks, it reminds me of my living.

“I want to do something against this poverty and we want to launch a programme in association with the government here with Vijay (Amritraj).

“We want to get some funds from America. Yes, I'll come again to follow up on that. We want to go beyond the tennis.”

As the topic veered back to tennis, Richard commented: “I am a master planner and I believe that if you have a proper plan you can always do what you want. I knew what road my daughters had to take and we planned for it. Yes, in the kind of place I come from there was a bit of a struggle but I always look at the hard times as easy times.

“We planned for everything and I knew my hardworking daughters would do well especially in a country where kids from rich backgrounds are lazy, where their parents take care of everything, where they don't even have to wash a dish, where they maybe play a round in a court inside Beverly Hills.

“And our family is a strong institution and that is important especially in these times when families are splitting up.”

With Richard not looking to ease his foot on the pedal, there would have been more insights from the man who produced two great champions, but the organisers thought he had spoken for a bit too long and whisked him away.