PARIS -- Reverberations from the Williams sisters' alarming doubles dropout at the French Open -- they had won four of the eight previous Grand Slams plus the Olympics -- continued on Thursday as everybody from the locker rooms to the press lounges debated just which sister quit on which.

After beating Katarina Srebotnik, 6-0, 7-5, in the second round, Serena Williams toed the party line, claiming it had been her own decision. (So that Venus, having shined-on her preparations and lost pitifully in the first round, could go ahead and fly home.) But if anybody was thoroughly convinced, poppa Richy Rich (The Alleged Fixer) Williams had a Rockefeller Center he could sell them, he owning a huge piece of the Rock and all.

"Yeah, it was me that pulled out because I've ... obviously y'all know I haven't played since the Ericsson [in Miami], which was back in March," Serena said.

"Yeah, I mean, look at me, I haven't really had that many matches. I'm not really ... you know, I wasn't really ready. It's gone three sets. Clay is tough."

Before anybody -- looking at her muscular, sculptured, Greco-Roman goddess body -- could figure why, if she hadn't had that many matches, she wouldn't need more (like doubles ones), Serena did acknowledge that: "actually, my body has been getting a lot better. I'm getting a lot stronger. I've been going to the gym a lot. Just a matter of getting on the court."

Amazingly, Serena's nose grew not a smidgen during the course of her explanation, but it did clash with widespread talk that it was actually Venus who surprised her sister and withdrew from the competition -- partly out of annoyance that Serena had reportedly resumed a romantic relationship with Washington Redskins' linebacker LaVar Arrington.

"[This was a departure] for a young woman," wrote Alix Ramsey in The Times of London, "who claimed that her entire social life revolved around 'hanging out with Venus.' That of course leaves big sister with the problem of finding a new playmate to go shopping with."

Maybe, as the fat lawman told Cool Hand Luke: "what we have here is a failure to communicate." Witness these brilliant exchanges between the second Williams sister and her questioners from the fourth estate.

Ian Carter, BBC Radio: "Reports suggest you and Venus have fallen out. Is there any truth to that?"

Williams: "What do you think?"

Carter: "I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

Williams: "Don't ask me. She's Number 2. I'm number, what? I don't know. You should answer the question yourself. If you think so, hey, that's great. Less pressure on us."

Carter: "I'm just asking you if that is true?"

Williams: "And I'm asking you, what do you think? Do you think so?"

Carter: "I don't know."

Williams: "Would you like to play me?"

Carter: "No, I don't know."

Williams: "I mean, come on. There's a lot of seeds that lose in the first round. Venus won the Ericsson, Hamburg. If that's falling off ..."

Carter: "I didn't mean falling off. I mean falling out -- that you had an argument. You weren't getting on too well."

Williams: "Oh, falling OUT! I had the wrong concept. No, we never argue. Last argument we had was when I was about six and Venus ... I'm sorry, I had the wrong concept. She was seven. We were arguing over a typewriter ..."

Carter: "That's why I wondered why you asked me what I thought."

Williams: "No, that's weird. I'll have to tell her. I can't wait."

Wait? Who's on first? What's on second? I don't know's on third.

Alan Fraser, London Daily Mail: "If [Venus] asked you to pull out of the doubles because she wanted to go home, would you do that?"

Williams: "I don't know. I don't think so. I don't know. I would have to be in that situation. It would be tough for me especially if I wanted to play."

The left-fielder's name? Why. Because? No, he's in center field ...

Selena Roberts, The New York Times: "Is the football player rumor true?"

Williams: "You guys are making me giggle. That type of stuff makes me giggle."

Roberts: "Is that the answer?"

Williams: "The answer? No comment."

For the final answer, another reporter encountered none other than Richy Rich himself strolling the leafy, fragrant Roland Garros grounds, trailing Serena's Jack Russell terrier, Byla Jackie.

"I don't know nothing. Peoples don't tell me nothing. I'm just the dog walker," said Richard Williams.

Curry Kirkpatrick, a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, first covered the French Open in 1976. E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espnmag.com.