In light of Romania’s doping ban, Serena Williams’ comments following her loss to Simona Halep in the 2019 Wimbledon final went viral. The video also attracted additional attention for incorrectly attributing Osaka’s Australian Open title to Williams.
Earlier this month, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) banned Halep for four years for two doping violations. This has caused fans to re-evaluate the former world No. 1’s past achievements, especially her 6-2, 6-2 victory over Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final.
In a popular TikTok video posted by @zain_____, the user shared a clip of the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s post-match speech after losing the 2019 Wimbledon final. In the video, Williams praised the Romanian for his extraordinary level of tennis.
“Yeah, she definitely played like crazy today,” Serena Williams said in her postgame speech.
The user claimed the quote suggested Williams sensed something unusual was going on.
“Selena knew something was wrong,” the user said.
The user claimed Halep was doping during this period and dismissed all other explanations for Serena Williams’ defeat. She also made a veiled reference to the 23-time Grand Slam champion, who clearly cast a shadow over Halep after the ban was announced.
“Anyway, she beat her in straight sets in an hour. A match like the last two hours. No one was going to say, ‘Let’s try to test this motherfucker.'” When this came out, most The funny thing is, people are like, ‘Serena lost because she moved her feet twice during the game. First of all, she moved her feet eight times, and eight is a better number,'” she continued said.
As the user continued to reject all explanations for Team USA’s defeat, she incorrectly attributed the 2019 and 2021 Australian Open titles to Williams, when in fact, those titles were won by Naomi Osaka.
“And people were like, ‘She just got back pregnant.'” She gave birth in 2017, and it’s now 2019, so there’s no Matthew on Myspace. Not to mention that same year, she won the Australian Open five months earlier, so don’t put your kids on that,” she said.
“Then people said, ‘Serena lost because she was old.'” No, two years later, Serena played Simona at the Australian Open and won the entire match,” she added.
By the way, Serena Williams defeated Simona Halep at both the 2019 and 2021 Australian Open.
The user ended the video on a humorous note, joking that if she were in Williams’ position, she would demand a drug test for Halep in her post-match speech.
“Serena is better than me. In this interview, I’m going to say, ‘Pee in the cup, asshole,'” she concluded.
Serena Williams and Simona Halep’s head-to-head record also distorted in viral video
Serena Williams has a 10-2 head-to-head record against Simona Halep. The video’s creator believed the Romanian’s victory in the 2019 Wimbledon final was an outlier, noting that Williams’ exit in the 2015 Indian Wells Open semi-finals was the 31-year-old’s second victory.
However, it’s worth noting that this victory is not included in the head-to-head record. Instead, Halep’s second win came thanks to her 6-0, 6-2 victory over Williams at the 2014 WTA Finals.
“Look at this, out of their 12 meetings, Serena won 10 times. One of them doesn’t even count because Serena withdrew due to injury in 2015,” she said.
The user also claimed that Halep allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs during her victory over Serena Williams at Wimbledon.
“So the only time Simona beat Serena was at Wimbledon, which is a Grand Slam and one of the biggest tennis tournaments. Everyone is thinking, ‘How did Simona Halep win at Wimbledon? Den beat Serena.'” We know how to do it. We didn’t know it then, but we know it now,” she added.