Serena Williams Shuts Down Question About Friend Meghan Markle During Australian Open Interview

Serena Williams is here to talk about tennis, not her BFF. During the Australian Open on January 20, the tennis star shut down a reporter who asked about her good friend Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s new royal status.

“Your good friend, Meghan Markle, who attended your last two slams, and Harry, have taken a move, a stance that many people think is extraordinary and historic. What are your feelings about that? Have you spoken to her?” a reporter asked the mother of one, according to The New York Times’ Ben Rothenberg.

Meghan, 37, and Serena met in 2010 at a Super Bowl party and immediately hit it off. "Taking pictures, laughing through the flag football game we were both playing and chatting not about tennis or acting but about good old fashioned girly stuff,” Meghan wrote of the interaction at the time on her former blog, The Tig.

In July 2019, the former Olympian gushed about her friendship with the former Suits actress. “She’s such a great friend and a great person as well. And always positive, no matter what. It’s so good to have people like that, just to know,” she said during a post-match press conference, along with that Meghan is “such a fan of the sport.”

Meghan even made a special trip to New York in September 2019 to watch her gal pal in the final rounds of the US Open. She joined Serena’s husband Alexis Ohanian on the sidelines to cheer on the athlete in Flushing, Queens.

On January 8, Meghan and Harry, 35, released a statement announcing their plans to step down as senior members of the royal family. “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within this institution,” they began. “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen."

Days later after an emergency family meeting, Queen Elizabeth II issued a statement on January 13. The meeting took almost three hours, and Her Royal Highness agreed to allow Harry and Meghan to move to Canada. "My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan's desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family,” she wrote.