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Infamous for Nasty Comment on Serena Williams’ Daughter, Romanian Tennis Legend Revealed as Godfather of Jimmy Connors’ Son

Published 04/28/2023, 3:53 PM EDT

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In the early 1970s, Romanian tennis star Ilie Nastase was one of men’s tennis’ dominant forces. When the Romanian star was at the peak of his powers, he won 2 Grand Slam titles. As a result, he forever cemented his legacy in the sport. However, in 2017, Nastase made the news for all the wrong reasons as he made some shocking remarks about the then-unborn child of Serena Williams. It led to a huge outcry from several renowned names in the sports world, and Nastase issued an apology for his comments.

In the latest episode of the Advantage Connors podcast, father and son Jimmy and Brett Connors talked at length about a variety of subjects. During a particular section of the podcast, Brett brought up Nastase and revealed some incredible personal information concerning the Italian legend.

Brett Connors spills godfather secret while talking about Medvedev and Rublev

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The father-son duo were speaking candidly about how “Medvedev asked Rublev to be his daughter’s godfather”. Then the discussion briefly turned to Ilie Nastase. Brett Connors remarked on Medvedev’s request, “Reminds me of my godfather who I haven’t seen in about 30 years. Mr. Ilie Nastase. Shoutout. Where you at?”

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Father Jimmy also seemed to remember the Romanian tennis legend from the 1970s quite fondly. He said, “It’s time we ran into him again. That would be fun, to have him in our podcast too.”

It would be interesting to see if Jimmy and Brett can manage to rope in Nastase for their podcast as a special guest. After all, Nastase, despite all his tennis talent, was a controversial figure, even after he had retired from professional tennis.

Infamous for His Nasty Comment on Serena Williams’ Daughter, Controversial Tennis Legend Receives Warm Appreciation From Jimmy Connors – ‘He Is One of Us..’

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Nastase’s unwarranted comments towards Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s unborn child irked the tennis world

For whatever reason, Nastase decided to have a go at a pregnant and unsuspecting Serena Williams in 2017. First, he accused the 23-time Grand Slam single’s title winner of using banned substances. Serena, to her credit, remained silent. However, Nastase crossed the line when he made some racist remarks about the unborn child (Olympia) of Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian.

via Getty

Serena, like the powerhouse she is, let Nastase know quite unabashedly what she felt regarding his comments. Eventually, Nastase apologized. Furthermore, he claimed that his comments about Serena were spontaneous and said without forethought. He also stated that the media blew his comments out of proportion.

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Written by:

Sudipto Pati

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Sudipto is a Tennis writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his graduation in Journalism and Mass Communication in 2012. His passion for writing became a full-time profession in 2019 after working as a musician and travelling educator.
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