The American tennis legend Serena Williams defied the odds and continued to triumph despite decades of racist and sexist attacks. During her incredible tennis career, she has not only made history but has also heard negative things about herself. Although she doesn’t care much what people think of her, the former Romanian player, Ilie Nastase once caused trouble by disparaging the tennis legend while she was pregnant with her first child.

In 2017, Williams encountered a very difficult circumstance when she was expecting her daughter at the time of the Fed Cup. The now 76-year-old former tennis player made racist remarks about the American tennis icon’s unborn child. And immediately following the horrible occurrence, Nastase was removed from the court. And then banned as a result of his acts, facing a lengthy penalty.

Ilie Nastase was hit with a ban for making a racist comment about Serena Williams 

The 23-time Grand Slam champion has been through her share of hardships. But in 2017, things went over the line when the Romanian tennis player made “racially insensitive” comments about the American tennis legend’s unborn child. Not only that, according to CNN reports, the 76-year-old was reported to have wondered out loud about the skin color of Williams’ unborn child.

After learning about these abusive comments, the International Tennis Federation banned the former Romanian player from any official roles in tennis until 2021. He was also fined $10,000 for badmouthing in between the matches. The British and Romanian reporters who were present during the match quoted Nastase who said, “Let’s see what color it has. Chocolate with milk?” 

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Along with the four-year ban, the ITF international panel also suspended the former world number one from working in an official capacity in all of its team competitions until 2020. Along with that, he was also barred from attending such events until 2019 and has paid a $10,000 fine as a part of his penalty.

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Along with the penalties, Nastase also got a firm reply from the ‘Queen of the Court’. Serena gave a clear warning for Nastase after his racist comment.

When Serena broke her silence on Nastase’s comments

After outrage created by Nastase, the 23-time Grand Slam champion angrily condemned his unacceptable remarks. She issued a stern warning to the former Romanian player over his nasty comment on Olympia. She took to her Instagram account to share her reaction and stated that it was a classless act.

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She wrote, “Don’t come for me, and don’t come for my baby.” Even after facing a lot of tough accusations, the 41-year-old American tennis legend remained strong and kept her mindset straight. Later, Nastase issued a public apology for his inconsiderate comments that put the entire tennis community in a bad light.

Do you think Nastase should’ve received a more stringent penalty for his comments? Let us know in the comments.