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Michael Voepel, ESPN.com
Tennis nice Serena Williams mentioned she understands why WNBA rookie Caitlin Clark avoids social media and that she hopes the Indiana Fever star tunes out negativity.
Williams, winner of 23 Grand Slam tournaments, spoke to media on the Tribeca Movie Competition in New York on Thursday at a premiere for “In The Area: Serena Williams,” an eight-episode docuseries that may air on ESPN+ starting July 10.
“I used to be bullied. Issues that I needed to undergo, individuals could be canceled for saying now,” Williams mentioned of the scrutiny she and her sister Venus confronted from followers, media and different gamers once they entered the elite tennis world.
“My place in rising up, as an adolescent, I type of needed to be guarded to type of keep sane. Simply [getting] a lot press and doing every little thing I used to be doing and touring the globe yearly. It was each week. It was a grind.”
Williams was requested in regards to the consideration that Clark, the No. 1 WNBA draft decide, is coping with now as a first-year professional. Clark has been on the middle of lots of media and social media debate and dialogue, together with why she didn’t make the U.S. Olympic basketball roster for this summer time’s Paris Video games.
“I like that she tries to remain grounded. She says she would not have a look at her social [media]. I get it. I do not both,” Williams mentioned of Clark. “I believe it is so necessary to only proceed to do what she’s doing. It doesn’t matter what different individuals do. If individuals are unfavorable, it is as a result of they cannot do what you do. Hopefully, she’ll proceed to do what she’s doing.”
Clark has incessantly mentioned she tries to remain off social media. She mentioned Thursday that she is against any racist and misogynist “agendas” on-line.
“Folks shouldn’t be utilizing my identify to push these agendas,” Clark mentioned earlier than the Fever’s sport Thursday. “It is disappointing. It is not acceptable. Treating each single lady on this league with the identical quantity of respect, I believe, it is only a primary human factor that everyone ought to do.”
