ESPN had reported that Nastase was heard to say, “Let’s see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?” at a news conference on Friday in Romania.
In response, Williams who announced last week she is expecting her first child with fiancé Alexis Ohanian wrote on Instagram
“It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments towards myself and unborn child, and sexist comments against my peers,”Nastase, didn’t believe that his remarks about the unborn child of Williams were racist.
“I have said it once and I’ll say it again, this world has come so far but yet we have so much further to go….
“I am not afraid unlike you. You see, I am no coward. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? You may shoot me with your words … you may try to kill me with your hatefulness, but still like air, I rise.”
“I want to know what word I used is racist?” he asked the Associated Press by phone on Monday from Budapest, Hungary. He added he was a friend of Williams.
The International Tennis Federation provisionally suspended Nastase from the Fed Cup on Sunday, a day after he hurled expletives at British player Johanna Konta, Britain captain Anne Keothavong and the umpire
Nastase earned the nickname “Nasty” for his on-court outbursts and gamesmanship in his playing heyday in the 1970s. But it also described his game, which earned him seven Grand Slam titles, two in singles, and more than 100 ATP titles. He’s in the tennis hall of fame.
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