Sometimes, Serena Williams may provoke the media with her standoffishness; sometimes the media are the ones doing the provoking.
Case in point: Williams' post-match interview following her 6-1, 6-2 second-round victory over Hsieh Su-Wei at the Australian Open, according to USA Today Sports.
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For some reason, the world's No. 1 player was asked about Roberta Vinci, the No. 13 seed who defeated Williams in the semifinals of the U.S. Open in September that prevented Serena from completing the calendar Grand Slam.
Williams was not asked about Vinci following her opening-round victory over Camila Giorgi, so the timing was odd.
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As such, Serena bristled at an Italian reporter when asked whether she had watched her U.S. Open defeat at the hands of Vinci.
"Yeah, I watch it every day," Williams said in a sarcastic tone and an annoyed glare, as reported by USA Today Sports. "Every night to get ready."
Williams, in fact, received three questions about Vinci, whom she would meet in the semifinals again as long as neither loses before then. Why the fascination now about Vinci was unclear. If the reporter wanted to know whether Williams used that loss as motivation, the question might be valid if that was indicated, but it's unclear whether that was the case.
Serena was complimentary of the Italian when asked about her prospects of entering the top 10.
"Most definitely," said Williams. "She's playing well, and the best part of it is not only is she playing well, she's playing consistent. It's not only one tournament or one week, it's every week. So, I mean, she's definitely looking towards cracking that, for sure."
But the media couldn't leave well enough alone and decided that Williams should answer for her sister Venus, who was a no-show for her post-match press conference after her first-round loss.
"If you want to, you can ask her," Serena said of her big sister. "Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't here."
At that point of the news conference, Williams decided she'd had enough of the probing questions that had nothing to do with her just-completed match, USA Today Sports added.
"In fact, I was watching a Telenovela [yesterday]," she said. "I'm coming apart, though. Do we have any more questions?"
Serena was completely justified in ending the session because the line of questions seemed intent on putting her on the defensive.
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