Tennis icon Serena Williams was left less than impressed following a snub at an upscale Paris eatery, sharing her experience with her legion of fans.
The 42 year old superstar reached out to her 10.3 million Twitter followers with a disappointing report about The Peninsula Hotel in Paris, claiming she and her little ones, Alexis Olympia Jr., 6, and 11-month-old Adira River, were refused service at a visibly unoccupied restaurant.
Serena aired her grievances, posting: “Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids. Always a first. #Olympic2024.”
But the prestigious establishment was quick to address her complaint publicly.
Responding on Twitter, the Peninsula’s account expressed regret, stating: “Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved,” reports the Mirror.
To further clarify, they added another tweet: “We have always been honoured to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris.”
Amidst the buzz around the incident, Maxime Mannevy from L’Oiseau Blanc told Variety that Serena wasn’t recognised upon her arrival at the restaurant alongside another lady and a buggy.
“When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel,” explained Maxine, who wasn’t on duty during Serena’s visit to the eatery. “My colleague didn’t recognize her and feels terrible, but he told her what he would have told any other client, which is to wait downstairs in the bar for a table to become available. That was absolutely nothing personal.”
Serena jetted into Paris at the tail end of July, just in time for the Olympic opening ceremony, where she had the prestigious role of being a torch bearer. The tennis superstar, who retired after the 2022 U.S. Open, joined an elite group of athletes to carry the torch, including nine-time Olympic medallist Carl Lewis, French icons Zinedine Zidane, Teddy Riner, and Marie-Jose Perec, as well as basketball legend Tony Parker and fellow tennis great Rafael Nadal.
Since landing in Paris, Serena has been fully immersing herself in the Olympic spirit, seen cheering at various tennis events, including Novak Djokovic’s gold medal-winning match against Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles. Throughout her illustrious career, Serena clinched four Olympic Gold medals, which included one in the women’s singles at the London 2012 games and three in the women’s doubles with her sister, Venus Williams.
