Serena Williams claimed that she and her household have been denied entry to The Peninsula Resort’s rooftop restaurant in Paris.
“Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied entry to [the] rooftop to eat in [an] empty restaurant of nicer locations 🫠 however by no means with my youngsters,” the retired tennis participant, 42, wrote through X on Monday, August 5. “All the time a primary. 🙄#Olympic2024.”
Following Williams’ tweet, The Peninsula issued a response to Us Weekly apologizing for the incident.
“In response to Mrs. Williams’ tweet, for whom now we have the utmost admiration and respect, as we do for all our esteemed company, we are able to solely reiterate our deepest apologies for her notion of tonight’s state of affairs,” the assertion learn. “At the moment, August fifth, our rooftop bar was certainly totally booked, and the one unoccupied tables at the moment belonged to our gourmand restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was additionally totally reserved tonight.”
The message continued: “She has at all times been, and can at all times be, greater than welcome together with her household at The Peninsula.”
Williams is at present in Paris for the 2024 Olympics alongside her husband, Alexis Ohanian, and their two daughters Olympia, 6, and Adira, 10 months. Williams participated within the torch relay for the video games’ Opening Ceremony. The tennis legend was one of many remaining torchbearers and arrived on the Olympic cauldron alongside Rafael Nadal, Carl Lewis and Nadia Comăneci.
Whereas on the ceremony, Ohanian, 41, was mistaken by broadcasters and recognized as the person holding Williams’ umbrella.
“She [Serena] appears to be like completely unbelievable. She’s received somebody simply behind us holding an umbrella,” commentator Laura Woods mentioned through the Eurosport broadcast. “These are the degrees you aspire to. To have an precise umbrella holder behind you.”
After the commentator’s remarks went viral, the Reddit cofounder took to social media to take pleasure in his new title.
“Olympia. Serena. Serena’s Private Umbrella Holder. 😂,” Ohanian joked through Instagram in July sharing a pic of himself with Williams and Olympia in Paris. “Let the video games start! I’ll be watching a number of T&F [track and field events] to absorb @athlos inspiration. 🥇”
Williams is not any stranger to the Olympics. She is a four-time Olympian, competing in 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2016. At every occasion, Serena took dwelling a gold medal for girls’s doubles with sister Venus Williams. Nonetheless, Serena gushed that she was excited to observe different athletes compete this time round following her retirement in 2022.
“It’s enjoyable! I imply, the Olympics in Paris is admittedly, actually unbelievable,” Serena mentioned to NBC reporters forward of the opening ceremony. “I don’t know if it’s enjoyable or I’m a little bit jealous. I did do the London/Wimbledon mixture, however I used to be a little bit jealous of right here!”