As previously reported there was an alleged off the court beef between tennis stars Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
Williams claims that she personally apologized to Sharapova for her the day before the games began this past Monday. During a recent Rolling Stones profile, Serena made obscure comments that were interpreted as a stab toward Maria. In the same profile William stated that a 16-year-old rape victim from Steubenville “shouldn’t have put herself in that position.” She made an apology to the victim and her family last week.
“One of the first things I did was reach out to the family. Not only that, I made it a point to reach out to Maria, as well, because she was inadvertently brought into the situation by assumptions made by the reporter,” Williams said Sunday during her pre-Wimbledon news conference. “I personally talked to Maria at the player party, incidentally. I said, ‘Look, I want to personally apologize to you if you are offended by being brought into my situation. I want to take this moment to just pour myself, be open, say I’m very sorry for this whole situation.’ ”
The situation Williams referred to is her recent talk with Rolling Stone where she stated that a “top-five player who is now in love…begins every interview with ‘I’m so happy. I’m so lucky’ — it’s so boring. She’s still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it.”
The reporter from Stone, Stephen Rodrick, added, “An educated guess is she’s talking about Sharapova, who is now dating Grigor Dimitrov, one of Serena’s rumored exes.”
After Sharapova learned of Serena’s veiled comments she addressed it in her press conference Saturday.
“At the end of the day, we have a tremendous amount of respect for what we do on the court. I just think she should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that’s just getting attention and controversy,” Sharapova said.
“If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids. Talk about other things, but not draw attention to other things. She has so much in her life, many positives, and I think that’s what it should be about.”
William’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglu, is Serena’s alleged boyfriend in question. Serena or Patrick has not confirmed a relationship outside of work.
“I definitely was told of the comments,” Williams said Sunday. “I definitely like to keep my personal life personal. I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it. But, yeah, I’ve always, in the past — you guys have known — I’ve kept my personal and professional life very private. I’m going to continue to do that.”
