Just before tennis play starts at Wimbledon, Serena Williams tried to bury the hatchet in her smoldering war of words feud with rival tennis star Maria Sharapova Sunday.
Williams, who had been under fire for a Rolling Stone interview where she ridiculed Sharapova's relationship, said in a pre-Wimbledon news conference that
she apologized to Sharapova face-to-face, the Washington Post reported.
"One of the first things I did was reach out to the family," Williams said, according to the Post. "Not only that, I made it a point to reach out to Maria, as well, because she was inadvertently brought into the situation by assumptions made by the reporter.
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"I personally talked to Maria at the player party, incidentally. I said, ‘Look, I want to personally apologize to you if you are offended by being brought into my situation. I want to take this moment to just pour myself, be open, say I’m very sorry for this whole situation," Williams continued.' "
The Washington Post said a Rolling Stone reporter paraphrased that Williams referenced Sharapova's relationship with Grigor Dimitrov with the comments that a "top-five player who is now in love … begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I’m so lucky’ — it’s so boring. 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."
Sharapova fired back during a Saturday news conference, referring to Williams' rumored relationship with her coach Patrick Mouratoglu, wrote the Washington Post.
"I just think she should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that’s just getting attention and controversy,” Sharapova said, according to the Washington Post. "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."
It was not the first apology Williams had to issue in connection with the Rolling Stone interview. She had to publicly apologize for saying in the article that the 16-year-old Steubenville rape victim should not have "put herself in that position."
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"I am deeply sorry for my insensitive and misinformed comments," Williams said in her post on her website, reported by the Washington Post on June 19. "It was not my intention to cause the victim and her family any additional pain. But I did, and I am sorry."
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