It was the 2018 French Open. Newly-turned-mother, Serena Williams, was making a comeback at the tournament, her first major after giving birth to Olympia. While it was expected to turn out a positive outcome for Williams, it went otherwise, with a massive controversy hitting her during the event. Recently, she reflected on this unfortunate event that became a major talking point.

During her matches in that tournament, the 23-time Grand Slam champion sported a black catsuit, that caught the eyes of the tennis world. Subsequently, the Wakanda-inspired outfit was massively criticized, which Williams didn’t see it coming.

Serena Williams left surprised by catsuit controversy

Yesterday, the former World Number 1 appeared in an interview with CNN Sports. During her conversation, she reflected on some massive career moments, among which was the catsuit controversy at the 2018 French Open. While explaining that she was left off-guard by the outfit’s controversy, Williams said, “I didn’t know it would have such an impact.”

Further, she went on to add, “Here I am, just trying to be healthy, I was a new mom and just trying to be me. It was a great moment. I didn’t know it would cause such a stir.”

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While Williams felt that it was a cool outfit, the French Open authorities felt otherwise. After the tournament, the French Open autghorities also banned such an outfit, stating that it went too far. Further, the American legend was also dejected as it was her first Grand Slam event after becoming a mother but her outfit gained more attention than her performance. For the record, Williams bowed out of the tournament in the fourth round, following which she faced backlash from the French Open authorities.

Catsuit controversy upset French Open authorities

A few years ago, Williams discussed how the tournament reacted to her black catsuit controversy. They weren’t happy with her decision and raised concerns about the outfit. Subsequently, they also outlined clear guidelines about the outfits for the tournament while banning catsuit-styled wear.

Describing the situation, Williams revealed, “This was really cool where I wore like this one body piece and people were mad about it. I couldn’t believe it. They were like ‘you shouldn’t wear that,’ well not people, the French Open was kind of upset about it, and I was like ‘why not?” 

Nonetheless, Williams emerged stronger from this controversy and finished runners-up at Wimbledon and the US Open that year. What do you think of Williams’ catsuit outfit? Let us know your views in the comments below.