Serena Williams just became our hero. Again. The tennis world champion was asked to respond to the extremely sexist comments made by Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore about women's tennis and naturally she did it the fiercest of ways.
In case you missed what's been going on just before the BNP Paribas Open finals Raymond Moore made some comments regarding the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) that lead to him stepping down from his position this morning.
This is what he said; 'In my next life when I come back I want to be someone in the WTA, because they ride on the coattails of the men. They don’t make any decisions and they are lucky. They are very, very lucky. If I was a lady player, I’d go own every night on my knees and thank god that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have.'
To add insult to injury Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one men’s player, joined in the conversation by suggesting that professional male tennis players deserve a higher pay than professional women because they attract more viewers. He said; 'I have tremendous respect for what women in global sport are doing and achieving,' continuing, 'Their bodies are much different to men’s bodies. They have to go through a lot of different things that we don’t have to go through. You know, the hormones and different stuff, we don’t need to go into details.'
Naturally Serena Williams wasn't having any of it. When asked to respond she told the press; 'Obviously I don't think any woman should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that. I think Venus, myself, a number of players have been - if I could tell you every day how many people say they don't watch tennis unless they're watching myself or my sister, I couldn't even bring up that number. So I don't think that is a very accurate statement.'
She continued; 'I think there is a lot of women out there who are more -- are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways. I think those remarks are very much mistaken and very, very, very inaccurate,'
Before serving the ultimate comeback; 'You know, there's only one way to interpret that. Get on your knees, which is offensive enough, and thank a man, which is not - we, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn't have to drop to our knees at any point.'
Hear, hear. This of course isn't the first time we've been cheering for Serena's comeback, you might remember her badass response to a body-shaming New York Times article shut down any haters.
As Beyonce would say - Serena you slay, okay.
