Tennis legend Serena Williams has called out a five-star Paris hotel after she and her kids were turned away from its seemingly-empty rooftop restaurant.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner, 42, who served as a torchbearer for the Olympics is now watching the Paris games with her children, Alexis Olympia Jr., 6, and Adira River, 11 months, and has shared her awful experience at The Peninsula Hotel.
‘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,’ she wrote on X alongside a picture of the hotel sign.
The hotel was quick to respond, sharing a statement underneath the post apologising to the four-time Olympic champion.
‘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,” the reply read.
‘We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris [sic],’ the hotel added in the follow-up post.
In a further comment made to Metro.co.uk, the Hotel added: ‘As an alternative, Ms Williams was offered an outside table downstairs at the hotel’s La Terrasse Kléber.’
And said they ‘always try to make space for walk-in guests but sometimes this is not possible.’ The hotel has reached out to Serena directly.
According to Variety, a staff member for the luxury hotel chain called Maxime Mannevy said that the retired player arrived at the restaurant with a stroller, another woman and ‘looked unrecognisable.
Maxime continued: ‘When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel.
‘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 arrived in Paris in late July and was spotted on a boat on the River Seine during the opening ceremony alongside Rafael Nadal, US track and field star Carl Lewis and former Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci.
Although the journey looked far from smooth as Serena appeared to lose her balance more than once.
The sports star recently made headlines after critiquing Kim Kardashian’s tennis racquet holding techinique after the reality icon shared a picture of herself on the court.
‘Literally not how you hold a racquet. Clearly, I have to give you lessons lol,’ Serena commented. Whether they have scheduled some one-on-one coaching remains to be seen.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Serena William’s representatives for comment.
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