Mark Harris
Videos by OutKick
Serena Williams is one of the greatest, most dominant female athletes to ever live. She is the queen of tennis, and she certainly sounded like a queen during her post-match interview at the U.S. Open on Wednesday night. The arrogance was palpable, the humility was nonexistent.
Williams continued her farewell tour Wednesday night by shocking No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit in three sets to advance to the third round of the Grand Slam she’s won six times in her career.
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Much like they did after her first-round win on Monday night, ESPN and the U.S. Open held a lengthy post-match interview with Williams. While the ceremony wasn’t as long as Monday night’s, ESPN replayed a video about Williams’ career voiced over by Oprah Winfrey before bringing Serena back on the court for her interview.
A specific portion of the interview was tough to watch given how arrogant and cocky Williams was.
“Are you surprising yourself with your level at the moment?” the reporter asked. To which Williams responded by asking “what?” after a brief pause.
“Are you surprised at yourself with your level?” the reporter asked again. Williams looked her in the eye before laughing and saying “No, I know, I’m just Serena.”
Serena, surprised at her level? 😏 pic.twitter.com/QP41An73FE
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2022
She also gave herself a pat on the back telling the world, “Well, I’m a pretty good player.” It’s as if the soon-to-be 41-year-old felt disrespected by the reporter asking the questions.
Breaking news: Serena Williams is a pretty good player. pic.twitter.com/maMbAod5EQ
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2022
I am not a tennis expert, and I’m not about to pretend I’ve followed Williams’ career closely over the years, but you don’t have to be a tennis expert to point out arrogance.
You can’t sit there and listen to those comments and not find them to be disrespectful to both her opponent and tennis as a whole. ESPN, the Tennis Channel, and fans won’t admit it, but the arrogance from Williams was through the roof.
You can call me an old man yelling at clouds — I’m only 29 by the way — but her comments and body language after the match were brutal to watch.
Not once did she mention her opponent during her post-match interview, a common courtesy every tennis player does following a match. Williams was only worried about herself as the digital stadium banners were lit up with ‘Greatest Of All Time’ throughout the interview.
Every great athlete has a certain arrogance to them. Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Cristiano Ronaldo, Williams, and many others undoubtedly share that quality.
Two things can be true at once, however.
Williams can ooze confidence and should soak in her final run in the sport that she’s dominated. She could also show respect to the game and her opponent with at least one ounce of humility along the way.
Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris
She’s just like Eldrick self absorbed arrogant entitled zero class whatsoever but she can do the “crip dance” on court bringing a little of the Compton ghetto to the masses good riddance
Serena has does this for her entire career. She rarely acknowledges her opponents, and when she does its a backhanded compliment after a loss. Like, “She played well but I wasn’t anywhere near my usual game.”
Rooting against her.