Serena Williams’ team hit back at ‘astounding’ criticism of tennis star after she was
Serena Williams’ coach has hit out at the ‘astounding’ criticism of the 44-year-old for not conducting her press duties after her first-round defeat at Wimbledon, insisting that people ‘have no idea what you’re talking about’.
The seven-time champion played her first match on Centre Court in four years on Tuesday night and gave a tremendous account of herself before going down 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to 20-year-old Australian Maya Joint.
Attention then turned to how she would reflect on that defeat in her mandatory post-match press conference but an alert released by the All England Club said:
‘Unfortunately Serena Williams will not be able to undertake media this evening.
Please see below quotes from her:
“It was really great to be back at Wimbledon. I never expected to be here. The atmosphere was amazing. Walking out was amazing. I definitely relished it and missed it and enjoyed the moment more than anything”.’
Serena Williams’ team have hit back at ‘astounding’ criticism of the 44-year-old tennis star
Williams elected to skip her mandatory press conference after her match on Tuesday night
This set off a storm of social media criticism, with fans attacking Williams for skipping press, implying effectively that she had flounced off after a tough defeat.
On Wednesday morning the All England Club confirmed to Daily Mail Sport that Serena would not face the usual fine of up to £37,000 for skipping media duties. The Grand Slam rulebook states that players must conduct post-match press ‘unless unable to appear on reasonable grounds (for instance illness or injury)’.
One of Serena’s coaches, former doubles world No1 Rennae Stubbs, then posted on social media: ‘The hate and lack of empathy in this world is astounding to me. Especially when you have no idea what you’re talking about. Just blows my mind.’
Serena is due to team up with Venus on Friday in the first round of the doubles, an event the sisters have won together six times.