How Serena Williams Hit at Trump After He Said She Was Intimidated by Sharapova’s ‘Supermodel’ Body

Back in 2018, Serena Williams was asked a very awkward question regarding then-President Donald Trump's graphic remarks about her and Maria Sharapova's shoulders before the two were scheduled to face off against each other.

In her press conference at the time, the 23-time Grand Slam tennis champ addressed a query on Trump's opinion of a 2004 encounter involving Sharapova. Williams was questioned by Inside Tennis' reporter Bill Simons over Trump's supposed remarks from 2004 that Sharapova's “shoulders were really alluring” and that Williams was “intimidated by her supermodel good features,” TIME magazine reported.

The question went something like this, “After the 2004 Wimbledon match with Maria, I had the opportunity to interview Donald Trump on his (Los Angeles) golf course, and he said that Maria’s shoulders were incredibly alluring and then he came up with this extraordinary analysis: That you were intimidated by her supermodel good looks. My question is: Have you ever been intimidated by anyone on a tennis court, and what are your thoughts about the occurrence?”

Although the comments were from 2004, judging by Trump's range of misogynistic comments about women, his thoughts might not have changed even at that time. Although Williams never wastes any time over questions like this, one would have thought she might have been at least a little intimidated given that Trump was president at the time. Instead, she exercised control over the question exactly like she does on the court, snubbing the reporter's question.

“I honestly don’t have any thoughts about that. I can’t say I have been intimidated by anyone. That’s all. That’s it,” she said. “Serena understandably didn’t want to comment on that.” Simons said in his article. In addition to the tennis player's scorn, the reporter was attacked on social media by a large number of people, mostly journalists, Fox News reported. Jemele Hill, a contributing writer for The Atlantic, wrote in 2018 on X, "Mannnnn .... Serena should have done the LeBron walk out on this question." Melissa Martin, another journalist, commented on X, "Congrats on waiting 14 years to ask one of the most dominant athletes of all time the stupidest possible question, baby."

Slamming the journalist further, Martin added, "I’m not even a tennis fan and don’t understand the sport well, but enough to know that Serena is extremely cool and I can’t even fathom getting a chance to ask her a question and making it THAT one. Like, you just couldn’t stand not telling her that gross anecdote?"

Although Trump has not really said anything about Williams or Sharapova since then, Simons took to Twitter to apologize for the question after it went viral. "I apologize if my awkward ques seemed 2 empower Trump or attack Serena. I SO admire her. I've spent a lifetime fighting racism/sexism/homophobia. Started campaign 2 name US Open Stad 4 Ashe, lobbied long 2 get Serena 2 return to I. Wells. Called out police violence vs Blake. I'm so sorry."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 22, 2024. It has since been updated.