It hasn’t been long since Novak Djokovic secured his 24th Grand Slam by clinching the US Open final against Daniil Medvedev. Unsurprisingly, the entirety of the tennis world was marveling at Djokovic’s accomplishments. After all, his feat meant that he had overtaken the women’s tennis G.O.A.T., Serena Williams, who won 23 Grand Slams during her illustrious career. However, all the talk about Djokovic came to a standstill when the heartbreaking news of Simona Halep‘s four-year suspension broke. A salty and egotistic Serena Williams also proceeded to throw shade at Halep.
The roots of Williams’ shade go back to her 2019 meeting against Halep at the Wimbledon final. On that occasion, Halep surprisingly defeated Williams in straight sets and prevented the legendary American from picking up her 8th Wimbledon title. Now that Williams’ comments on Halep’s situation have gone viral, many tennis fans are upset with the legend’s behavior. Who can blame them?
Tennis fans mince no words as they tear Serena Williams apart
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Williams’ comment, “8 is a better number”, was quite clearly a sly dig at Halep. The suggestion was that Halep should be stripped of her 2019 Wimbledon title. This would make Williams the 2019 Wimbledon champion in retrospect, allowing her to match Djokovic’s tally of 24 Grand Slam titles. However, a Twitter user was quite quick to point out that Halep had won the 2019 Wimbledon title fair and square.
To anyone (i.e. @serenawilliams) who wants to try and say Simona's Wimbledon win should be disqualified or in question, here are my receipts! This is from the 2019 testing summary, Simona was tested 10 times in comp. and 17 out, with 0 issues! She was 100% clean then no… pic.twitter.com/rJP18V4PJV
— Romanian Tennis (@WTARomania) September 12, 2023
This generated a flood of reactions. Most of them were aimed at Williams for her desperate attempt to secure Grand Slam parity with Novak Djokovic. One fan was quite brutal in assessing Williams’ resentful demeanor and suggested that she shouldn’t call herself a tennis G.O.A.T.
https://twitter.com/maninole22/status/1701750129911558630
Another targeted Williams for her bitterness over her 2019 loss to Halep and Djokovic’s monumental feat.
Serena just bitter she's not in the 24 club.https://t.co/p6Pewhp0Cw
— Tom (@Manchain_11) September 12, 2023
A well-known Djokovic fan also reacted, suggesting that Williams’ shade reflects her pain of being overtaken by Djokovic.
I must say I was very surprised with Serenas tweet throwing some shade at Simona Halep today.
I think it just shows how much she is still hurt by not getting to 24 slams and I guess with Novak winning on Sunday to get to 24 that reinforced that hurt. https://t.co/HIN98rCeKM
— Pavvy G (@pavyg) September 12, 2023
Yet another user used the term “disgrace” to ridicule Williams along with her fans.
Serena and his fans are disgrace to tennis https://t.co/9gz63R1QGZ
— Nothing Serious (@joey2_taylor) September 12, 2023
One fan seemed particularly irked by Williams’ reaction to the latest twist in the Simona Halep saga.
@serenawilliams You girl hit a new low today. You lost American public’ respect. Finally they now can see what you are. Shame on you ! https://t.co/AQhrPhXujx
— Nope (@Nope2080) September 12, 2023
Another fan quite firmly believes that Williams should be “ashamed” of the hatefulness she aimed at Halep.
Grand Ma Serena should be ashamed of herself.. it’s that hate that will finish her https://t.co/YawTUc88Jx
— light yagami (@habdoolahi) September 12, 2023
Williams’ comments, according to another fan, were not expected, considering that Halep was a “fellow athlete” on the WTA tour.
The 8 wasn’t a great idea. Especially from a fellow athlete. https://t.co/MfRtNV5FPt
— Anand Datla 🇮🇳 (@SportASmile) September 12, 2023
Yet another fan fumed over Williams’ arrogance.
Serena is a sore loser, she can’t get over the fact Simona kicked her butt in 52mins in Wimbledon. A big champ or not, she’s arrogant. https://t.co/2rWM4XCjUb
— سمية الجزيري (@SumayaAJ) September 12, 2023
One fan thanked Naomi Osaka for stopping Williams from securing her 24th Grand Slam during their infamous US Open encounter.
@serenawilliams is so salty and egoistic she will not like this tweet now.
thanks to @naomiosaka for stopping her at 23 GS she was so desperate to surpass Margaret court https://t.co/vcNvKXLWPg
— sativa strain (@unsobersg) September 12, 2023
It’s fair to say that most tennis fans aren’t pleased with Williams’ comments. On a more serious note, some of tennis’ most prominent names have spoken out against the ITIA’s decision to suspend Halep for four years.
READ MORE: ?It?s Time to Stop Tennis?- Simona Halep Says Serena Williams Has Other Priorities in Her Life
The tennis world speaks out against Halep’s suspension
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The Simona Halep doping saga has seemed to go on and on. However, the latest decision dished out by the ITIA has left the majority of the tennis world aghast, with the exception of Serena Williams, of course. In fact, two of Serena Williams’ former coaches, Patrick Mouratoglou and Rennae Stubbs, have been the loudest when it comes to criticizing the four-year suspension.
Mouratoglou has more reason than most to protest as he is currently coaching Halep. The beleaguered Romanian Halep has sworn to keep her fight going by challenging the decision at Switzerland’s Court of Arbitration for Sport. So, for all we know, the long-drawn out Simona Halep doping saga may just have another twist to it.
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What do you think of Halep’s current predicament? And do you believe Serena Williams was right to say what she said? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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