Serena Williams tried to defuse her war of words with Maria Sharapova yesterday as the Wimbledon champion claimed she had apologised to the Russian for criticising her private life.
Williams, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, infuriated Sharapova by making a thinly-veiled reference to the World No 3’s relationship with Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov, believed to be Serena’s former boyfriend, during a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Serena Williams (left) shakes hands with Maria Sharapova after their French Open women’s singles final on June 8 in Paris. PIC/Getty Images
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“She 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,” Serena was quoted as saying.
Sharapova was so upset by Serena’s comments that she hit back on Saturday by drawing attention to the American’s romance with her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
Sharapova also claimed she was “sad” that Williams made controversial comments in the same article regarding the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two high school American football players in the Ohio town of Steubenville.
But Serena, who starts her Wimbledon title defence against Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella tomorrow, refused to escalate the row with her rival on the eve of the grass-court Grand Slam.
The World No 1 said she sought out Sharapova to apologise at a WTA players’ party in London last week.u00a0“I feel like Maria, unfortunately, was inadvertently brought into a situation she should have never been brought into,” Serena said.
“I’m the first person to apologise. I’m the first person to reach out to individuals and people if I feel that something may have hurt them or something may have been misconstrued.
“I personally talked to Maria at the player party. I said; ‘Look, I want to personally apologise 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’.”
Serena, 31, was repeatedly asked about the controversy at yesterday’s press conference, but she made a spirited attempt to deflect questions about any lingering bad blood between the pair.
“We always have great conversations, so I believe that she definitely did accept it (the apology),” Serena said.u00a0“I’m not really gonna comment on that (Sharapova’s reaction), whether I’m disturbed or not.
“I know she also said that I should definitely focus on the tennis here, and I feel like that is another thing I can definitely take her advice on,” Serena added.u00a0
Numbers game
13
Number of times Serena Williams has beaten Maria Sharapova in a row, including the 2013 French Open final
31
Number of matches Wimbledon defending champion Serena Williams has played without losing currently
16,00,000 pounds
Amount the men’s and women’s singles champions will receive this year (nearly Rs 14,62,97,326)
23,500 pounds
Amount the first round losers at this year’s Wimbledon will earn(nearly Rs 22,48,741)
77
No of years since a Briton won the Wimbledon. (Fred Perry won Britain’s most recent Wimbledon title in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War began and Jesse Owens defied Hitler at the Berlin Olympics
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