By Bill Simons
After a particularly bad bounce during a soggy Wimbledon a while back, Mary Carillo joked that the ball had hit a worm that had just come up to get a breath of air.
Now, again this year, worms have already entered the Wimbledon picture.
Instead of wringing our hands over the ridiculous (can’t tennis ever get it right?) men’s seedings, we are now talking about the ever-provocative Serena Williams, who began Wimbledon season by opening up a super-sized can of worms. Oh, yummy!
In a Rolling Stone profile—available online, but not on newsstands until July 4—based around an in-person interview in February at her Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home, we get an intriguing picture of the woman who, more than any other, stirs the tennis milkshake.
Here, the take-no-prisoners writer Stephen Rodrick informs us that tennis is “a gilded sport run by Veuve Clicquot-sipping country club types,” and that the “tour is much like Mean Girls with prize money.” Also, opines Rodrick, Serena “runs women’s tennis like Kim Jong-un runs North Korea: ruthlessly, with spare moments of comedy, indolence, and the occasional appearances of a split personality.” Rodrick states the obvious when he notes, “Serena’s dominance has been fueled by not giving a s— what you or anyone else thinks about her methods … Serena does what she wants, when she wants.” According to the article, if Serena “doesn’t pocket her sixth Wimbledon and her fifth US Open titles this summer, check the ground because the world may have spun off its axis.”
As for Serena’s prime rival, we are told that “[Maria] Sharapova is tall, white, and blond, and, because of that, makes more money in endorsements than Serena, who is black, beautiful, and built like one of those monster trucks that crushes Volkswagens at sports arenas … Power is the dominant part of Serena’s game, which is sort of like saying speeches are the dominant part of Obama’s game.”
Despite all this, Serena blithely claims that she is “a total klutz” who “falls over for no reason” and has a scar from a bicycle accident.
Speaking of reason, there was really no reason for Serena, perched back at the No. 1 spot back in February, to uncork the double-whammy controversy which emerged out of the Rolling Stone piece.
Sure, it is worth debating whether a reporter who has been invited to a celebrity’s house to hang out for the day should use quotes he incidentally hears when the celebrity is talking on the phone. Rodrick chose to share some cutting remarks made by Serena to her sister Venus that were likely about Sharapova.
Initially, though, that wasn’t what set off the media firestorm. While watching TV with Rodrick, Serena reflected on the incendiary Steubenville, Ohio rape case, where a drunken girl was sexually assaulted by football players and photos and messages about the act circulated through social media. Questioning the sentences imposed on the convicted rapists, Serena shifted her focus to the victim: “If you’re a 16 year old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don’t take drinks from other people. She’s 14, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously, I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position.”
Serena’s words soon put her in a different kind of terrible position. Within a day of Rodrick’s article going public, she issued an apology, then went on to speak privately with the victim’s family. “I take full responsibility,” she said afterward.“I definitely wanted to apologize to the family. They’ve been through so much. In talking to them and learning the whole story, you just learn how strong the young girl is, how strong she’s been to be able to make it through this process, which I think is incredible.
I really take pride. I’m glad that I’ve got a chance to get to know the family.”
The whole Steubenville controversy contains a sad irony, since Serena’s sister Yetunde Price was tragically shot to death in LA in 2003, possibly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time; yet another victim of random violence.
As players began arriving at Wimbledon, though, the media focus began to shift to Serena’s remarks about an unnamed rival who sounded a lot like Sharapova. According to Rodrick, who recorded Serena’s quotes, after mokcing people who “live, breathe, and dress tennis,” she zeroed in on a top five player who “begins every interview with ‘I’m so happy. I’m so lucky’,” adding, “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 [presumably Sharapova’s boyfriend, Grigor Dimitrov, who was linked to Serena by some sources in 2012], go for it.”
At a pre-Wimbledon press conference, Sharapova didn’t hold back when asked about Serena’s comments. “If she wants to talk about something personal,” she responded, “maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend [Patrick Mouratoglou] 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.”
The brouhaha and verbal volleys continued back and forth, with Serena next claiming that she had apologized to Sharapova before Sharapova made her press conference remarks. “When the article came out I immediately reached out,” Serena said, at her own pre-Wimbledon presser. “One of the first things I did was to [also] reach out to Maria, as well, because she was inadvertently brought into the situation by assumptions made by the reporter.
I personally talked to Maria at the [Wimbledon] 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’ … I think it’s important what I’ve learned this week, mostly that it’s so important to know all the facts before you make a comment or before you make an assumption.
That’s something I’m still learning. I’m still every day learning and experiencing and trying to grow. I feel like, until you know the facts, that’s all you can do.”
When asked what she thought about the Rolling Stone story overall, Serena offered a shocking compliment to the tennis media: “I’ve been spoiled dealing with professionalism here in the tennis world. I’m used to dealing with professional reporters. I have people come to my home. I have great conversations.
I’m used to dealing with these people not writing or commenting on a private conversation that I may have, or kind of listening in or eavesdropping and then reporting on it. You guys have completely spoiled me.
With that being said, I’ve been in the business for a little over 20 years, so I should definitely, definitely know better. I should know better to always have my guard up.
Fortunately, as you’ve seen throughout the years, I’ve completely let my guard down with you all. I definitely want to continue to do that because I really appreciate you reporters. I have the most respect for Maria on and off the court. That’s another reason why, being a woman, I wanted to reach out to her and say, ‘Look, this is this, this is this, sorry.'”
When asked if she was referring to Maria in Rodrick’s story, Serena said, “What I told her was—I never told her it wasn’t me, quite frankly, no.”
Serena was then asked if Maria accepted her apology. Williams replied, “Well, we always have great conversations, so I believe that she definitely did accept it.”
All the punches, counterpunches, knockdowns, and apologies have been enough to make your head spin. And a ball hasn’t even been hit yet.
Never before has the run up to a tennis tournament been so saucy. We can only hope that Wimbledon itself will be as exciting a reality show.
