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The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Athletes need to accept criticism
KADEEM SIMMONDS can understand why Serena Williams got angry when a reporter described her performance as ‘scrappy’ but felt her reaction was uncalled for and the reporter was only doing his job

There seem to be a lot of angry athletes and managers at the moment and I don’t quite understand why.

Serena Williams went viral over the weekend when she snapped at a reporter following her Australian Open victory over Lucie Safarova in the second round.

The reporter described her performance as scrappy which did not sit well with the US star.

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