Serena Williams tweets shade about Simona Halep

Former WTA number one Simona Halep was banned for four years earlier this week for allegedly taking the substance roxadustat. The ban was handed down by an independent tribunal through the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The ITIA looked through 8,000 pages of evidence in their findings. Halep appears guilty of taking roxadustat and Serena Williams tweeted her thoughts on this.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t say “thoughts.” Basically what Serena Williams did was tweet not-so-cryptic shade at Halep. See, Halep defeated Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final. Simona Halep won two Grand Slam finals, 2019 Wimbledon and the 2018 French Open.

But head-to-head Williams defeated Halep in 10 of 12 meetings. Williams was by far the better player and in 20 years when people are discussing the greatest players ever – male or female – Serena Williams will get a mention. Simona Halep will likely only be discussed for cheating. So Halep beating Williams once at Wimbledon is cool, I guess, but that was one of only two times Halep beat Serena.

What Serena Williams tweeted was the following:

The “8” refers to the number of Wimbledon finals Serena won. The fact that she tweeted that in clear reference to Simona Halep, and as Halep had defeated Serena once in a Wimbledon final, could be viewed as those proverbial sour grapes. Or Serena might just be pointing out how many more Wimbledons she won versus a player who she now views as a cheater.

To be honest, Serena Williams might have been attacking the low-hanging fruit. Halep had been banned for four years (she already served a year of being suspended so she has three more years before she can play a WTA-sanctioned event) and Serena was jumping on the bandwagon of hate in a way. But honestly, doesn’t Serena Williams deserve to say (or tweet or X) whatever she wants? She is, after all, one of the top five players – men or women – in the history of tennis and she did so cleanly.

I have seen some people on social media get angry at Serena for tweeting what she did. Really? The anger should be directed at Halep who was banned for cheating. Serena never had to cheat. She was just better than her opponents most of the time, including Simona Halep 10 of 12 times.