"Martina Hingis is an inch shorter than when I first met" - When Serena Williams' father suggested the Swiss icon saw off her legs & attach new ones

Venus and Serena Williams' father Richard has earned a reputation over the years for making brash comments to the media. He has been known to hit out at other players who question or doubt the prowess of his two daughters.

During one such controversial interview, back in the year 2001, Richard Williams targeted former World No. 1 Martina Hingis. Richard said he could not envision the Swiss getting good enough to challenge his daughters Venus and Serena for titles.

The American also claimed Hingis had gotten shorter since they had met for the first time, and suggested a rather bizarre solution.

Richard Williams said he had a friend in Compton who could help the Swiss icon, as he was a surgeon when not high on drugs. As for the solution itself, Serena Williams' father suggested Martina Hingis to have her legs sawed off and attach new ones so that she could run down balls more easily.

"I can’t see Hingis getting any better. And Lindsay (Davenport) is getting old and slower. You know, Hingis is an inch shorter than when I first met her," Richard Williams said.

"She should come to me and say, ‘Master Williams, I want you to help me. I want to be better.’ And I could help her. I’ve got a friend in Compton, and when he’s not high, he’s a surgeon. He could saw her legs off and attach new legs that are a couple of inches taller. Her legs are too short to run the ball down," he added, in quotes collected by New York Magazine.

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"All of what Richard WIlliams says is calculated" - When Lindsay Davenport claimed Venus and Serena Williams' father intentionally tries to get a rise out of the media

Venus and Serena Williams (right)

Lindsay Davenport claimed back then that Richard Williams' comments were often calculated and intended to get a rise out of the media. Davenport said Richard's moves helped Venus and Serena Williams stick together, as it made them think it's always them against everybody else.

"Oh, all of what Richard says is calculated. He does all that on purpose, to get a rise out of the media, to get some attention. And so that Venus and Serena stick together. They have an attitude that it’s ‘us against everybody else,'" Davenport said in the same interview.