If there’s one thing Serena Williams has dealt with in her career, it is other people’s opinions. The champion tennis player is pretty good at defending herself and shaking off the haters, but isn’t it nice when someone steps up and defends you, too?
Williams has her husband on her side in all things, but Reddit founder Alex Ohanian got especially vocal when a former tennis and hockey player named Ion Tariac lashed out at Williams for still picking up the racket.
On a program called Network of Idols that is broadcast in Romania, UBI Tennis reports that Tariac told journalist Irina Păcurariu Williams should retire.
“At this age and the weight she is now, she does not move as easily as he did 15 years ago,” Tiriac said. “Serena was a sensational player. If she had a little decency, she would retire! From all points of view.”
It should be noted that Tiriac is 81 years old and still hasn’t retired from running his mouth. Williams is 39 and is one of the older professional tennis players competing. She also has 23 Grand Slam titles and is still reaching some of the highest levels at Wimbledon.
Whenever Williams decides to retire, she’ll be doing so as an absolute All-Star.
Ohanian was supremely annoyed by this old man bad-mouthing his beautiful wife, even if he was doing so on an obscure show aired exclusively in Eastern Europe. He started responding to tweets about it:
Safe to say no one gives a damn what Ion Țiriac thinks.
— Alexis Ohanian Sr. 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) January 4, 2021
Then made a few of his own about Tiriac and his own winning (losing) record:
Had to Google it… turns out my 3 year old has more Grand Slam victories than this 🤡🤡 pic.twitter.com/Q2pgsNWFAj
— Alexis Ohanian 🇦🇲 (@alexisohanian) January 4, 2021
2021 and no holding back when a racist/sexist clown with a platform comes for my family.
— Alexis Ohanian Sr. 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) January 4, 2021
People love seeing a man stan his own wife:
I'm always hungry pic.twitter.com/NR3h6mP235
— Alexis Ohanian Sr. 7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) January 4, 2021
Maybe Ohanian’s response can be attributed to the fact that this isn’t the first time Tiriac has tried to make himself relevant by talking about some 100x more famous. In 2018, he told a German newspaper that everyone should be focusing on new players, then said this:
“With all due respect, but Serena Williams is 36 and 90 pounds I would like to see something else, I would like to see a player like Steffi Graf.”
I don’t think he knows what the word respect means.