Nobody puts Serena Williams in a corner.
On Monday, the top-ranked female tennis star responded to John McEnroe’s assertion that she would be at the bottom of the pack if she played against male athletes. “If she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world,” the retired tennis legend said in an NPR interview Sunday.
“Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based,” she wrote on Twitter. She also asked the player to “Respect me and my privacy as I’m trying to have a baby.”
Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017
I've never played anyone ranked "there" nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby. Good day sir
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017
The nearly 60-year old McEnroe also insinuated in the interview that he would be win in a match against Williams—a statement that he qualified with: “Maybe I should get her now because she’s pregnant.” It’s worth pointing out that Williams won the Australian Open while two months pregnant.
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The athlete spoke frankly about her pregnancy in the cover story of the August issue of Vanity Fair. “If you would have told me last year in October or November that I would have a baby, not be pregnant but have a baby, I would have thought you were the biggest liar in the world,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem real. I don’t know why. Am I having a baby?”
The 23-time Grand Slam champion also says she plans to go back to tennis after the birth of her child: “I don’t think my story is over yet.”