Williams Sisters Kickoff Exhibition Tour
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-19 11:50

Venus and Serena Williams sat in awe, smiling and clapping as the T.T. Minor Tumblers made continuous tumbling runs.

"I could never flip like that," Serena told the crowd in the small, packed elementary school gymnasium Thursday morning. "I used to want to be a gymnast."

Serena Williams uses a giant tennis racket to swing at a huge tennis ball duirng a demonstration at Seattle's T.T. Minor Elementary School as she visited with her sister, Venus Williams, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005. Having completed rehabilitation on knee injuries that ended their 2005 seasons, the sisters kickoff a four-city exhibition tour Thursday night in Seattle, with their sights set on the 2006 season. [AP]

The Williams sisters were in Seattle to kickoff the second year of their charity exhibition tour Thursday night at KeyArena. The tour will also visit Cleveland (Dec. 1) and Washington D.C. (Dec. 8) after going to Detroit, Atlanta and Chicago last year. The tour raised $175,000 for various charities last year, officials said.

The elementary school was the first stop of a busy day for the tennis stars. Their schedule included a visit to the Ronald McDonald House and a reception before the exhibition match. The sisters hoped to get a little sightseeing done in their first visit to Seattle.

"This is a lot of fun. This is the icing on the cake of everything we get to do," Venus said.

The tour represents the first public tennis the pair have played in months. Since the U.S. Open, both have been rehabbing left knee injuries. Serena also battled a left ankle injury that limited her to just 28 matches this year.

Neither sister qualified for the season-ending WTA Championships last week in Los Angeles. Venus finished the year with a 37-10 record and the title at Wimbledon, while Serena went 21-7 and won the Australian Open.

The tour also serves to help promote the game to a surprisingly large tennis playing population in the region, United States Tennis Association Pacific Northwest Section executive director Bill Leong said.

The northwest is first per capita in playing population, he said.

"I think it really energizing the people and really builds a fan base for us," Leong said. "We were excited to get the call to jump right in there and help anyway we can. It was a no-brainer."

While at the elementary school, the Williams sisters were treated to a lengthy tumbling exhibition from the school's extracurricular group, They were extremely impressed.

They also held a question and answer session with students, posed for a handful of pictures, signed a few autographs, and participated in an impromptu tennis match with a local television personality, featuring an oversized ball and tennis rackets.

When asked by a student what they do when not playing, the pair connected with the kids, Venus saying she enjoys sleeping late and watching SpongeBob SquarePants.

"I love Jimmy Newtron," Serena added.

"We would like to see the tour evolve and go to different cities ... going to markets we've never been. And bringing entertainment to it as well," Venus said. "That's what I'd like to see it evolve to."