Yesterday (April 24), Serena Williams took to IG to support the suspension issued to tennis legend Ilie Nastase resulting from his behavior at a Fed Cup match between Romania and Great Britain.
Over the weekend, Nastase was ejected after abusing players and the umpire on Saturday.
Per CNN’s Danielle Rossingh, Nastase also “put his arm around [GB team captain Anne Keothavong] when both captains posed for pictures after the draw presentation, asking her for her hotel room number.”
Nastase was overheard also at the press conference making crude comments about Serena Williams’ unborn baby: “Let’s see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?”
Williams confirmed on Wednesday last week that she was 20 weeks pregnant with her first child after posting an image of her baby bump. Her fiance Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of the Reddit website, is white.
On his comments leading to his ejection, Nastase said of his actions, “I don’t regret it and they can send me to prison if they want.”
He remained unapologetic about the remarks directed toward Williams as well, telling Martin and Lines, “I don’t know what all the fuss is about.”
In her IG post, Serena admitted that she was “disappointed” to live in a world where such comments were still made.
“It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments.
“I have said it once and I’ll say it again, this world has come so far but yet we have so much further to go. Yes, we have broken down so many barriers – however there are a plethora more to go.”
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