The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Serena Williams

  • Serena hails women’s advocate Murray

    Serena hails women’s advocate Murray

    Andy Murray may have failed to defend his title at Wimbledon after booking quarter final exit no thanks to America’s Sam Querrey, but he can take consolation in the fact that the ladies will not hesitate to vote for him should he decide to contest for election.

    Serena Williams currently on sabbatical following her pregnancy, says all women players “love” Andy Murray as he has “spoken up for women’s rights and issues”.

    In his post-match press conference, the 30-year-old was asked for his thoughts on Querrey, who was described by a reporter “as the first American to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since 2009”.

    However, Murray quickly corrected the questioner. “First male player,” he shot back.

    Williams, the winner of a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles – 12 of which have come since Andy Roddick was the last US man to make the semi-finals of a Slam at Wimbledon in 2009 – hailed Murray as a great champion of women’s sport.

    “There should not be a woman athlete or tennis player who is not totally supportive of Andy Murray,” Williams told ESPN. “He has spoken up for women’s rights and issues especially in tennis forever.

    “He’s done it again. That’s who he is and that’s the thing we love about him. He has done so much for us on the tour. We love Andy Murray.”

    Williams, 35, won her seventh Wimbledon title in 2016 missed the tournament this year as she prepares to give birth to her first child next month.

    Big sister Venus is keeping the family flag flying at the All England Club, reaching Saturday’s final where she will face Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

    “I feel like I’m there, in a weird way. I feel like I’ve been there for the whole journey,” said Serena, who has faced her sister in four Wimbledon singles finals.

    “We talk every day and we text every day, not about tennis always – our relationship isn’t based around tennis so it’s just been really great. I miss her a lot and I look forward to her coming back.

    “All my energy is towards making her want to be great and making her want to win. It’s just a totally different feeling.”

  • Serena Williams will be 700 on return -McEnroe

    Serena Williams will be 700 on return -McEnroe

     

    Former tennis bad boy John McEnroe says Serena Williams would be ‘like 700’ in the world tennis rankings if she played on the men’s tour.

    McEnroe, who won seven Grand Slam titles in his career, was speaking to American Broadcaster National Public Radio about his memoir ‘You Cannot Be Serious’.

    He said that Williams was the best female player ever, ‘no question.’

    But when asked about her being the best ever, without gender qualifiers, McEnroe said: ‘If she had to just play the circuit — the men’s circuit — that would be an entirely different story…she’d be like 700 in the world.’

    McEnroe elaborated that the thought Serena’s incredible mental strength would allow her to beat some male players.

    He added: ‘That [700 ranking] doesn’t mean I don’t think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it’d be a little higher, perhaps it’d be a little lower.

    ‘And on a given day Serena could beat some players. I believe she’s so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke.

    McEnroe won seven Grand Slam titles in his career. Williams has won 23. She is currently sixth months pregnant and engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

    NPR journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who interviewed McEnroe, took to Twitter to defend the former tennis ace.

    She asked: ‘Is being the best athlete in the world about pitting men against women? By that metric women can never be the best.

    ‘Shouldn’t you look at exception performances and wins? It’s not a battle of the sexes.’

    Williams had admitted in the past that she’d probably lose to a male champion in ten minutes or less.

    When interviewed on ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ four years ago, she said: ‘For me, men’s tennis and women’s tennis are completely, almost, two separate sports.

    ‘If I were to to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes, maybe ten minutes. No, it’s true. It’s a completely different sport.

    ‘The men are a lot faster and they serve harder, they hit harder. It’s just a different game. I love to play women’s tennis. I only want to play girls, because I don’t want to be embarrassed.’

  • Pregnant Serena Williams still owns the tennis court

    Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you’re thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it’s time we talked about it that way.

    Seven months into her pregnancy, Serena Williams’ backhand is still on fire. The tennis champ — who won the Australian Open in January returned to the top of the WTA rankings the week after news of her pregnancy broke in April — may be sitting out the year professionally. But the 28-week-pregnant athlete is by no means staying off the court, as her Instagram feed proved, when Williams posted a video of herself playing tennis as fiercely as ever.

    A little insight into the 35-year-old tennis champ’s built-in doubles partner: According to the doctors on the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board, Williams’ little bun currently resembles a large eggplant (their comparison, not ours), weighing in at a little over 2 lbs and measures nearly 15 inches.

    Williams has been sharing snapshots of her pregnancy on social media since the middle of April, when she unintentionally announced announced she was expecting her first child with fiancé Alexis Ohanian in a very 2017 way: via Snapchat. On April 19, the 23-time Grand Slam winner shared a selfie in a yellow swimsuit captioned “20 weeks.”

    A week later, Williams, who is waiting to find out the sex of her baby, confessed in an interview with Gayle King that she had not mean to share her big news with the world quite yet.

    “Well, actually it was an accident,” she told King at the 2017 TED Talks conference in Vancouver. “I was on vacation just taking some time for myself and I have this thing where I’ve been checking my status and taking pictures every week to see how far along I’m going,” Williams explained. “I didn’t tell a lot of people to be quite honest and I’d been saving it.”

    She continued: “Every week I just take a picture and save it and I’ve been so good about it and this was the one time I slipped, but it’s okay.” She added, “On social media, you press the wrong button and… 30 minutes later I missed four calls and I’m like, ‘That’s weird.’ But it was a good moment. I was only going to wait five or six more days [to tell people].”

    Either way, it seems likely that her and fiancé Alexis Ohanian’s baby will be born ready to play.

    While Williams is busy embracing the experience of being pregnant, Ohanian is nothing but excited too.

    “What am I looking forward to? I’m looking forward to this being my greatest creation,” he said in a new interview with The Cut. He went on to explain that while co-founding Reddit has been a major accomplishment, becoming a father “is everything, this is family.”

  • Biafra, Democracy Day dominate Google search

    Biafra, Democracy Day dominate Google search

    Nigerians took to Google during the week to know more about Biafra and the history of democracy in Africa’s most populous nation.

    Google’s Spokesman Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade made the announcement in Lagos on Thursday.

    Kola-Ogunlade, who is Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Anglophone West Africa, said the searches were apparently to know more about Biafra.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some groups observed a sit-at-home protest on May 30, to commemorate the 50th anniversary since the Biafra uprising ended.

    Kola-Ogunlade said that Nigerians searched for Democracy Day, Biafra News, Biafra Day, Tiger Woods, Ernesto Valverde and Paul Pogba in the search engine.

    According to him, a group, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has rejected May 29 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day, describing it as fraudulent, unrealistic and escapist.

    “The group asked the Federal Government to declare June 12 as Democracy Day instead.

    “May 29 was chosen by the last military regime of Gen. Abdul Salaam Abubakar.

    “Nigerian researched more on the topic on Google search using the terms: ‘when is democracy day in Nigeria.’

    The spokesman said that Nigerians also searched for: “why do we celebrate democracy day in Nigeria.

    “History of democracy day in Nigeria and democracy day 2017”.

    The searches commenced on May 25 and ended on May 31.

    Kola-Ogunlade said there was total shutdown in Nigeria’s South East on May 30, following the Indigenous People of Biafra’s sit-at-home order.

    He said that the order was to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the defunct Republic of Biafra and also to honour heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle.

    The Google chief said that the sit-at-home order was totally complied with in the five states in the South East.

    Kola-Ogunlade explained that people searched Google using terms such as ‘Biafra news today’, ‘Biafra latest news’, ‘radio Biafra news’ and ‘radio Biafra’.

    The spokesman said that Golf superstar, Tiger Woods’ arrest and charge for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) by the police in Florida on May 29 also trended on Google.

    He said that the former golf world number one had to deal with a fresh blow as he struggled to resurrect his career.

    “Nigerians went on Google to search for ‘Tiger Woods net worth’, ‘Tiger Woods arrested’, ‘Tiger Woods news’, ‘DUI’ and ‘Serena Williams’.

    The Google chief said that Barcelona FC President, Josep Bartomeu, on May 29 officially confirmed the appointment of Ernesto Valverde as the club’s new head coach, replacing Luis Enrique.

    Kola-Ogunlade said that sports fanatics Googled ‘Ernesto Valverde profile’, ‘Barcelona’, ‘Who is Ernesto Valverde’ and ‘Barcelona new coach.’

    He also said that Paul Pogba’s visit to Mecca to give thanks for a good season trended on Google.

    “Paul Pogba visited Islam’s holiest city, Mecca this week to pray and offer his appreciation for a successful season with Manchester United and to mark the beginning of Ramadan.

    “Nigerians visited Google to search ‘Paul Pogba religion’, ‘Is Paul pogba a Muslim’, ‘Paul Pogba profile’ and ‘Paul Pogba biography’,” Kola-Ogunlade said.

    Google Trends launched in May, 2006, allows one to see how popular search terms and their demography have been overtime on the search engine.

  • Serena Williams: Baby’s gender revealed

    Serena Williams: Baby’s gender revealed

    Tennis champion, Serena Williams is said to be expecting a baby girl.

    Her sister, Venus, spilled the beans during a short interview with Eurosport saying: ‘I want to be known as the favourite aunt’ at the French Open in Stade Roland-Garros, Paris, France.

    Venus was asked about the baby in the interview on Wednesday, where she referred to the baby as ‘she’ and said she wanted the tot to be named after her, according to Dailymail.

    Serena announced she is expecting her first child back in April . She also said she still did not know the gender of her baby.

    Talking at the Met Gala on May 1, she said: ‘We’re waiting. It’s a surprise. We call it “baby,”‘ she said.

    Serena recently revealed she had actually accidentally announced her pregnancy.

    The star confessed the Snapchat which revealed she was 20 weeks along was sent by mistake.

  • It is season of pepper for me-Serena Williams

    It is season of pepper for me-Serena Williams

     

    For every pregnant woman the gestation period can be intriguing. Weekly changes as the baby continues to take shake can equally be tickling. Each week and each month comes with new experience. Some women are even wowed by the pleasant metamorphosis going on within them even as they fix an eye on what doctors choose to call EDD (Expected Date of Delivery).

    American queen of the courts and world number Serena Williams is currently enjoying her own share of that super experience and appears ready to record the feelings as they come. The 23 Grand slam winner took to her twitter handle Wednesday to reveal that pepper has become the in-thing for her now.

    “No heartburn tonight. I also had no spicy food ??. Is this my future for the next several months? I live for peppers on peppers on peppers,” she said

    Teeming fans of the power serving tennis player though happy with her new mother-to-be status admit they will miss her game on court as she stays off the courts to attend to the demands of pregnancy. But the 35 year old who appears to be reading their minds has assured that she will not drop the rackets after delivery.

    Asked by a TMZ.com reporter if she will retire from tennis after welcoming her child into the world, Serena simply said: “Never.”

    Williams has not played since winning January’s Australian Open. She is the most decorated female player in tennis history—and arguably the greatest tennis player ever—with 23 Grand Slam singles titles and 39 major titles overall.

    But her pregnancy has led to speculation about Williams’ future in tennis, despite the fact that her publicist said she would return to play in the 2018 season when the pregnancy was announced. While Williams has accomplished all there is to accomplish in the game, she’s also given no indication she plans on retiring.

    She wouldn’t be the only woman to return from a pregnancy to the sport. Victoria Azarenka, for example, recently took maternity leave and is expected to return to the game this summer.

  • Serena Williams’ Bridal Shower: All the details

    Serena Williams’ Bridal Shower: All the details

    Last Friday, the tennis champion jetted off to Miami with 20 of her loved ones — including her mom Oracene, sisters Venus, Lyn and Isha and closest girlfriends — for a weekend-long bridal shower at the 1 Hotel and Homes South Beach, now dubbed “the Wellness Hotel.”

    “The shower really reflected Serena’s girlie and detail-oriented personality,” her friend and L.A. event planner Val Vogt of VLV Group tells PEOPLE exclusively. “There were lots of surprises for her throughout the weekend.” Adds her longtime friend Lara Shriftman: “It was a really magical weekend with a lot of love for Serena.”

    After checking in on Friday, the bride-to-be, 35, and her gals kicked off the festivities Saturday morning with a relaxing “mind and movement” yoga and meditation class on the rooftop pool deck, followed by foot massages in an air-conditioned poolside cabana by the hotel’s Bamford Haybarn Spa.

    The athlete — who’s pregnant with her first child with her fiancé, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian — then hopped on a private yacht with her pals for a relaxing cruise around Miami.

    After taking a dip in the ocean and relaxing on floats, the star retired to a luxurious “Retreat Collection” suite that her friends had decked out with bridal-themed decorations, including a piñata shaped like the cartoon version of Williams and her future husband. Williams’ girlfriends and family also gifted her with stuffed animals at the end of the night as a surprise.

    Before heading out on Sunday, the group — all dressed in yellow — enjoyed a private brunch and paint party by Bottle & Bottega Miami and soaked up some sun on the venue’s private beach (a new members-only beach club will be open this summer).

    “It feels good,” Williams said earlier this year about being engaged. “[Alexis] is a really nice person, and I definitely think he treats everyone the same, which is really, really cool to see.”

  • Nastase to be denied accreditation for French Open

    Nastase to be denied accreditation for French Open

    Former Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase will not be given accreditation for this year’s French Open, organisers said on Saturday.

    The 70-year-old is provisionally banned from all International Tennis Federation (ITF) events, after making allegedly racist and sexist comments during Romania’s Fed Cup tie against Britain last month.

    “Following the decision of his suspension by the @ITFTennis, Mr Ilie Nastase won’t be accredited for #RG17,’’ French Open organisers said on Twitter.

    Nastase, who courted controversy throughout his career during which he won the U.S. and French Opens, is also not welcome at this year’s Wimbledon championships.

    Romania’s Fed Cup captain was booted out of the tie against Britain last month for “unsportsmanlike’’ behaviour.

    The singles rubber between Britain’s Johanna Konta and Sorana Cirstea was briefly suspended after remarks made by Nastase, to Konta and British team captain Anne Keothavong.

    Nastase had already run into trouble during the World Group playoff tie in Constanta after making a derogatory comment about the unborn child of American Serena Williams, the 23-times grand slam singles champion.

  • Snapchat pregnancy announcement ‘an accident’ – Serena Williams

    Snapchat pregnancy announcement ‘an accident’ – Serena Williams

    Serena Williams says she revealed her pregnancy by accident, after mistakenly uploading a photograph on Snapchat.

    The 23-time Grand Slam winner posted a picture on the social media app, posing in a mirror with the message: “20 weeks”, before deleting it, with her publicist later confirming the news.

    Williams, 35, said she took photographs every week to track the pregnancy.

    “I was just saving them [for myself]” she said. “I’ve been so good about it, but this was the one time it slipped.”

    The world number one, who is due to give birth in the autumn, said she discovered she was pregnant just two days before the Australian Open in January.

    The American went on to beat sister Venus in the final and win her an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title.

    “It wasn’t very easy,” she said. “You hear all these stories about people when they’re pregnant – they get sick, they get really tired, really stressed out.

    “I had to really take all that energy and put it in a paper bag, so to say, and throw it away.

    “Pregnant or not, no-one knew and I was supposed to win that tournament. Every time I play, I’m expected to win. If I don’t win, it’s actually much bigger news.”

    Williams, who is taking maternity leave for the rest of the 2017 season, said there was no change to her plan to return to the tour as a mother next year.

    “I definitely plan on coming back. I’m not done yet,” said Williams, who credited 36-year-old sister Venus for inspiration.

    “If she’s still playing, I know I can play. This [motherhood] is just a new part of my life. My baby’s going to be in the stands and hopefully cheering for me.”

    On Tuesday, Williams called Ilie Nastase’s comments about her unborn child “racist”.

    Nastase, a former world number one and two-time Grand Slam winner, was heard speculating whether Williams’ child would be “chocolate with milk?” at a news conference before Romania’s Fed Cup tie with Great Britain last week.

    Responding to the controversy Williams said: “It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racists comments towards myself and unborn child”.

    An investigation has been launched into the Romanian’s behaviour after a series of outbursts at the Fed Cup match against Great Britain.

  • Serena Williams pregnant with her first baby

    Serena Williams pregnant with her first baby

    International tennis superstar, Serena Williams, 35, says she is 20 weeks pregnant.

    The 22-time Grand Slam champion made the announcement on Wednesday on Snap-chat where she showed off her pregnant belly in a profile pic of herself holding up her phone to a mirror in a one-piece swimsuit captioned, “20 weeks.”

    The veteran athlete has been engaged to Alexis Ohanian,33, since December 2016

    “It feels good,’ she said of the engagement in January.

    “I really haven’t thought about it too much because I wasn’t even really gonna think about it until after the tournament.

    Williams, has been romantically linked in the past to Grigor Dimitrov, Patrick Mouratoglou, Amar’e Stoudemire, Hosea Chanchez, Jackie Long, Common, Colin Farrell, and Drake, among others.