Things are getting a little intense between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova as two of the world's elite female tennis players engaged in an unlikely verbal salvo with just three days to go before the start of the Wimbledon Open Championships at All-England Tennis Club.
Sharapova, who's known for his laid-back personality, launched a verbal attack directly at Williams as a response to the American's comments in her recent interview with pop magazine Rolling Stone. The 25-year old Russian beauty even got a little bit personal in her remarks to the point of mentioning Williams' rumored boyfriend, tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
"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," Sharapova said during a pre-Wimbledon news conference on Saturday, according to ESPN. "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."
Sharapova, ranked No.2 in the world overall in women's tennis, thinks her tennis rival should talk more about her accomplishments and achievements rather than sparking controversies off the court. Nevertheless, the Russian still had enormous respect for Williams as a great competitor.
"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," added Sharapova, who's seeded third in next week's Wimbledon Open.
Sharapova's tongue-lashing came after a reporter asked about her initial reaction to a certain excerpt in Williams' latest story on Rolling Stone, which the author believes was directed by Williams, the world's No.1-ranked tennis player, at Sharapova.
"There are people who live, breathe and dress tennis. I mean, seriously, give it a rest." Serena exits the car and the conversation moves on to a top-five player who is now in love. "She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' - it's so boring," says Serena in a loud voice. "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." (An educated guess is she's talking about Sharapova, who is now dating Grigor Dimitrov, one of Serena's rumored exes.)
Williams recently demolished Sharapova in the finals of the 2013 French Open to capture her 16 Grand Slam championships. Next week, Serena will begin another campaign to defend her Wimbledon Open crown and hoist her sixth title at All-England Club.
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