Tennis star Dominic Thiem took a slap at Serena Williams for having “a bad personality,” after being asked to move his presser to make way for Williams.
Thiem was in the midst of his French Open post-match press conference when a tournament official entered the room and told him to move his conference to a smaller room to make way for a presser for Williams, USA Today reported.
By some reports, Williams, who had just lost to 20-year-old Sofia Kenin, told officials to put her in a different room when she saw that Thiem was already doing his conference in the main room. But officials decided to displace Thiem, anyway.
Thiem was none too happy with the change. After stepping into the smaller room, he was heard saying, “I don’t really get it. Seriously. I mean, what the hell? It’s a joke, really.”
In a later interview, Thiem took a swipe at Williams for the incident.
“Even if a junior is in there, every player has to wait. It is a matter of course,” Thiem told Eurosport. “It also shows a bad personality, in my opinion. I am 100% sure (Roger) Federer or (Rafael) Nadal would never do something like that.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.