Tennis: Young, gifted and black: Excitement over Venus sighting: Two African-Americans are poised to make an impact in traditionally white middle-class sports

The father of Venus Williams can count himself fortunate if his pronouncement - 'the next parent to allow a 14-year-old to turn pro should be shot' - does not come to be categorised under famous last words. His daughter is due to make her professional debut in California next week, aged 14.

It could be argued that Richard Williams has an escape clause. Since he made the utterance, during the summer, Martina Hingis, a 14-year-old Czech-born Swiss, has joined the tour, which technically puts her mother-cum-coach, Melanie Hingis-Zogg, ahead of Williams in the firing line.

Extenuating circumstances could also be taken into consideration. The way Williams tells it, he has fallen victim to a new phenomenon: prodigy power.

Unlike Jennifer Capriati's father, Stefano, who has been accused of pushing his child too hard, or Mary Pierce's father, Jim, who was banned from attending tournaments because of his disruptive behaviour, Williams insists that his daughter is calling the shots. 'She makes her own decisions.'

Having created a reputation for being the world's most protective tennis parent and coach, he now says Venus persuaded him to allow her to join the tour ahead of the age restrictions due to be phased in from January next year. 'I'm still against it,' he said. 'For a 14-year-old, this means giving up too much of her childhood and going from a normal life to an insane life.

But she feels so strongly about it that I feel like I should support her ideal.'

As far as Venus is concerned, the groundwork has been done. 'All these years that I've been practising, I've been practising for professional competition, not the juniors,' she told the New York Times. 'I was brought up in a place where everything didn't come easy. I think I'm more mature than a 14-year-old, and it's almost like I'm 16.'

By starting now, she will be able to compete in up to 12 senior events before her 15th birthday, and her career will be unrestricted thereafter.

This will not be the case when the rules are altered in January 1995. A graduated scale will be introduced, limiting the number and quality of events open to 14 and 15- year-olds. By 1997, no player under 16 will be allowed on the tour.

Venus Williams may turn out to be the best thing since sliced backhands. All we really know is that she is black, American, 6ft 1in, and has a sister, Serena, aged 13, who is rated an even better prospect by some of those privy to the vacuum in which they have been developed.

In a court of law, evidence regarding Venus's proficiency might be ruled inadmissible as hearsay. Speculation concerning her potential on a tennis court, however, proved sufficient to gain her a wild card for the dollars 400,000 Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, where she will compete alongside notables such as Martina Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Venus has no track record, never having been on the track. Unlike Hingis and the crestfallen Capriati, who graduated as Grand Slam junior champions, she did not serve the customary apprenticeship at primary level.

Imagine an untried footballer making a debut in the Premier League after showing one or two nice touches in practice, or a tyro cricketer being introduced to the first- class game on the strength of hitting a few decent shots in the nets, or a would-be golfer handed a PGA Tour card because a couple of club pros saw him achieve a hole in one.

That, in effect, is what is about to happen in Oakland. An official of the WTA Tour, while acknowledging that Williams's experience of match play amounts to 'hit-and- giggle pro-celebrity doubles', defended the awarding of a wild card. 'That's what they're for, to give an opportunity to players who would not otherwise get into an event.'

The decision prompted criticism on behalf of the numerous ranked and committed professionals overlooked in the haste to bring the newcomer into the tournament. If a playing pedigree was not prerequisite, where would the next wild card go - to the mayor?

Nor did it escape notice that the Oakland event belongs to Mark McCormack's International Management Group, and Venus Williams has yet to appoint an agent. Pure coincidence, was the counter; Hingis, an IMG client, chose to make her debut in Zurich, which is run by Advantage International.

As for the hit-and-giggle matches, Wendy Turnbull, twice winner of the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with John Lloyd, seemed quite impressed with Venus, while Virginia Wade, Britain's last Wimbledon singles champion, wondered what all the fuss was about.

Though much was made of Capriati and Hingis before they hit a ball as professionals, the hype surrounding the Williams sisters as non-competitors has been astonishing.

They first began to feature prominently in American publications such as Sports Illustrated and the New York Times three years ago, when Richard and Oracene Williams decided to move from a tough environment in Compton, California, so that their daughters could train at the Rick Macci Tennis Acadamy in Florida.

A sheltered existence as players did not prevent a steady flow of publicity.

Richard Williams was perceived to represent parents against burn-out, steadfastly refusing to expose his children to junior competition: 'Too many problems, too much fighting among parents. We're trying to bring up our kids better than that.'

The emphasis was on education, much of the schooling received at home, with care taken to ensure that the youngsters would have a clear understanding of financial matters. 'My daughters already know about stocks, mortgages and banking,' Williams told USA Today.

When Venus arrived in Oakland this week, it was arranged that she would visit a local high school and give the pupils a talk about motivation. But what Venus and Serena have been denied, perhaps crucially, is knowledge of competition, experience of the doubts, fears and uncertainties which can grip a player during a match and be probed by an opponent.

Chris Evert considers this to be a serious omission. 'The most pressure I ever felt was in juniors, good or bad,' the great American said. 'You do kind of wonder whether kids need to feel sick to their stomachs when walking on to the court. But the good side is, by the time I was 16, the pros were a breeze. the competition really helped my game.'

Monica Seles, coached by her father, Karolj, made an impact on the junior scene as young as nine, but did not compete consistently after leaving her home in the former Yugoslavia to join the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Acadamy, in Florida. After playing in her first professional events as a 14-year-old amateur, she turned pro at 15, saying later that she wished she had waited another year.

'If it was totally up to Venus,' Rick Macci said, 'she would have been playing already, but maybe the fact that this rule has been passed kind of forced the decision. If she plays this year, the family will be in more of a position to pick and choose when and where she plays for the next few years.

That was my advice to Richard on why she should play this year. She could be in the top 20 in a year.'

While black athletes are pre-eminent in most sports, tennis is not one of them, probably because of its traditional country club social image. Only Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe have been able to win Grand Slam singles titles, Zina Garrison reaching the Wimbledon final in 1990.

Gibson, who belonged to the amateur era, was 29 before she competed at international level. Her late development was not by choice. Being raised in a black community in South Carolina during the 1930s was not exactly an entree to the tennis courts of America, never mind the world. In three years, from 1956 to 1958, before turning professional, she won the French singles championship and twice held the Wimbledon and United States titles.

By coincidence, the silver salver Gibson lifted so proudly at Wimbledon is known as the Venus Rosewater Dish.

(Photograph omitted)