Williams responds to Sharapova with apology
The verbal volleying between women's tennis stars Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova continued Sunday with Williams saying she apologized about a reference regarding Sharapova's personal life in a magazine article published last week.
Sharapova had spoken about Williams' comment a day earlier in an interview leading up to the start of Wimbledon on Monday. Williams is the defending women's champion and No. 1 seed. Sharapova is seeded third.
"She was inadvertently brought into the situation by assumptions made by the reporter," Williams said Sunday in London. "I personally talked to Maria at the 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.'"
In a Rolling Stone story that appeared online Tuesday, when Williams was asked by a reporter about a top-five player assumed to be Sharapova, she responded, "(Sharapova) 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."
Sharapove is dating Grigor Dimitrov, who reportedly has dated Williams.
When Sharapova was asked Saturday for a response to the article, she replied, "At the end of the day, we have a tremendous amount of respect for what we do on the court. I just think she should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that's just getting attention and controversy.
"If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend 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."
Williams said Sunday that she had heard what Sharapova said.
"I definitely was told of the comments," Williams said. "I definitely like to keep my personal life personal. I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment on it. But, yeah, I've always, in the past -- you guys have known -- I've kept my personal and professional life very private. I'm going to continue to do that."
The Rolling Stone article also created controversy when it was revealed that Williams mentioned a teenage victim in a Steubenville, Ohio, rape case shouldn't have put herself in that position. Williams apologized for his comments after the story appeared.
Williams beat Sharapova in the French Open final two weeks ago.
