Serena Williams blasts tournament CEO for saying women should ‘get on their knees’ to thank male players for sport’s popularity

“I think there is a lot of women out there who are very exciting to watch. I think there are a lot of men out there who are exciting to watch. I think it definitely goes both ways.”

She went on:

There’s only one way to interpret that. ‘Get on your knees,’ which is offensive enough, and ‘thank a man’? We, as women, have come a long way. We shouldn’t have to drop to our knees at any point.

You look at someone like Billie Jean King who opened so many doors for not only women’s players but women’s athletes in general. So, I feel like that is such a disservice to her and every female — not only a female athlete but every woman on this planet — that has ever tried to stand up for what they believed in, being proud to be a woman.

King took to Twitter to address Moore’s comments herself:

And during the broadcast of the ensuing men’s final, ESPN commentator Patrick McEnroe called for Moore’s resignation:

“That was completely unacceptable, I’m absolutely livid,” McEnroe said.

Later on, Moore issued an apology on behalf of himself and the tournament:

“I made comments about the WTA that were in extremely poor taste and erroneous.” he said. “I am truly sorry for those remarks, and apologize to all the players and WTA as a whole. We had a women’s final today that reflects the strength of the players, especially Serena and Victoria, and the entire WTA.”