Monday morning started off glorious for Serena Williams, who officially announced via social media that she and fiancé Alexis Ohanian are expecting their first child together.
But hours later, the joyful Instagram post was overshadowed by a new message slamming Romanian tennis legend, Ilie “Nasty” Nastase, for making racist comments about her unborn child.
On Friday morning, Nastase was overheard speaking ill about Williams and Ohanian’s soon-to-be bundle of joy. According to reports, the 70-year-old was quoted saying in Romanian, “Let’s see what color it has. Chocolate with milk?”
Serena wrote of the incident late Monday: “It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments towards myself and unborn child, and sexist comments against my peers.”
Nastase was also hit with a provisional suspension over the weekend after asking player Anne Keothavong her hotel room number. But wait, it didn’t end there. He also came under fire during the Miami Open earlier this month for calling British player Johanna Konta and chair umpire “b*tches.”
Needless to say, Serena was extra fired up.
She continued, “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 … This or anything else will not stop me from pouring love, light and positivity into everything that I do.”
The International Tennis Federation released a statement regarding Nastase’s behavior, writing, “The ITF does not tolerate discriminatory and offensive language and behavior of any kind. We are aware of alleged comments made by Romanian Captain Ilie Nastase and have begun an immediate investigation so that we have the full facts of the situation before taking further and appropriate action.”
Williams concluded her IG message by thanking the ITF for “any consideration given to all facts in this case.”
