Serena Williams’ risky Wimbledon top made tennis fans do double take

Wimbledon 2023: Gates open to the public

The Wimbledon Championships will get underway today without Serena Williams for the first time since 2017, but the presence of one of the sport’s all-time greats will still be keenly felt.

Since making her SW19 debut in 1998, the youngest of the Williams sisters appeared in 11 finals, winning seven of them, securing her legacy as one of the historic tournament’s greatest-ever champions.

Now 41, she finally hung up her racket last year, finishing her career with a record 23 grand slam titles, 73 tour titles and positioned first in the all-time rankings, not to mention the £74.8m she earned in prize money along the way.

Serena has too many memorable moments to remember on the grass courts of the All England Club, but on one particular occasion, she left fans and reporters having to double-check exactly what she had written on her chest.

After losing the 2008 final to her elder sister Venus 5-7, 4-6, Serena returned a year later and reversed the result against her sibling to clinch her third Wimbledon title and 11th grand slam overall.

But when the new champion arrived for her post-match press conference, the American had changed into a controversial t-shirt. Written across the front were the words ‘Are you looking at my TITLES?’

Unable to ignore the question posed by her garment, a reporter decided to tackle the issue and asked Williams: “May you tell us a little more about that shirt? Did they prepare it before and then you chose it? [Or] did they tell you afterwards and you say ‘Yes I like it’ or maybe ‘I don’t like it’? And if you had lost, there was another shirt, or there was for your sister?”

The reporter’s question caused widespread laughter in the press room, before Williams said, “Well, this shirt is available in Nike stores. If you want one everyone can have it. I’ve been wearing it a little bit this week and I thought last night when I was getting my stuff together I thought if I win I’ll wear this because I have a lot of titles and I would know if you guys are looking at my titles or… my Gatorade bottle. And yes there was another shirt if I didn’t win!”

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

With the media scrum now in the palm of her hand, Williams took the opportunity to poke some fun at another reporter after he posed a somewhat obvious question. When asked how much motivation winning Wimbledon was to regain the number one spot in the world rankings, she said: “I’m not super motivated. If you hold three grand slam titles, then maybe you should be number one, but not on the WTA tour obviously.

“My motivation is maybe just do another grand slam and stay as number two I guess. I’d rather by number two and have three grand slams in the last year than by number one and not have any.”

When asked if she saw herself as number one, Williams left the room in hysterics once more when she said: “I see myself as number two, that’s where I am. I think Dinara (Safina) did a great job to get to number one, she won Rome and Madrid…”

Source: Read Full Article