Serena Williams has sued a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris after claiming she and her children were denied access.
In a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Olympic champion claimed that she and her family were not allowed to enter The Peninsula’s rooftop restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc. In the post, she noted that this was the first time she had been denied access with her family by her side.
“Wow @peninsulaparis!” she wrote. “I was denied access to a rooftop to eat at a restaurant empty of nicer places (sic), but never with my kids. Always a first for this.”
The Independent The Peninsula and a representative for Williams have been contacted for comment.
In the comments section, fans immediately supported the tennis champion, with one user referencing Williams’ nearly $100 million net worth: ‘You can buy the whole damn place.’
Other aggregate: “Who doesn’t make room for a queen?”
“They were denied access because they were complying with prejudices,” another person said. noted. “I am ashamed of them.”
Account X of the hotel in question defended itself by saying that their accommodation for that night was already full.
“Dear Ms. Williams,” the hotel wrote, “we would like to ask you to accept our sincere apologies for the disappointment you experienced this evening. Regrettably, our rooftop bar was fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully booked.”
In late July, the 23-time Grand Slam winner arrived in the City of Light for the first time ahead of the “unforgettable” Olympic opening ceremony, which she attended as a torchbearer. Williams joined a long tradition of athletes carrying the torch alongside compatriot and tennis champion Rafael Nadal, as well as nine-time medallist Carl Lewis, French icons Zinedine Zidane, Teddy Riner, Marie-José Pérec and Tony Parker.
She subsequently joined the Olympic crowd as a spectator rather than a champion having retired from professional tennis following the 2022 US Open. Throughout her career, Williams has won four gold medals, including one during the women’s singles at the London Games in 2012, while the other three were won in the women’s doubles, in which Williams and her sister, Venus WilliamsHe was victorious in Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
She was a frequent observer at several tennis matches over the past few weeks, even being in the audience when Novak Djokovic won gold against Carlos Alcaraz In the men’s singles tournament, Djokovic won 7-6, 7-6 in straight sets to claim his first Olympic gold medal, while the women’s singles match was won by China’s Zheng Qinwen against Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
