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Serena Williams Has The Best Response To Tennis Player's Sexist Comment

She's had to deal with misogyny her whole career and she's still a class act.

If you're going to go after Serena Williams, you better be prepared to lose.

On Sunday, retired American tennis player John McEnroe made a sexist comment about the greatest athlete of all time, telling NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday" host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that Williams wouldn't be as "great" if she were playing against men.

Serena Williams of the US holds up the trophy following her victory over Venus Williams of the US in the women's singles final on day 13 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 28, 2017. (PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Serena Williams of the US holds up the trophy following her victory over Venus Williams of the US in the women's singles final on day 13 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 28, 2017. (PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)

When Garcia-Navarro asked McEnroe why he chose to specify that Williams was the "best female athlete ever" rather than the "best athlete ever," he responded: "Well, because if she was in, if she played the men's circuit she'd be like 700 in the world."

Um, excuse me?

He then tried to backtrack, giving the currently No. 4 TWA ranked player a backhanded compliment.

"That doesn't mean I don't think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it'd be a little higher, perhaps it'd be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players," he said.

"I believe because she's so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke 'cause she's been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit — the men's circuit — that would be an entirely different story," he continued.

Child, no.

These kinds of misogynistic comments are unfortunately nothing new for the celebrated tennis star, who is pregnant with her first child, but, like the pro she is, Williams took to Twitter and shut. it. down. in the classiest way ever.

In two tweets directed at McEnroe, Williams straight up tells him to keep his sexist comments to himself.

Can we just say:

And Twitter lit up:

But Williams has already moved on from McEnroe's nonsense. Just hours after she issued her fiery reply, she tweeted (and Instagrammed) a photo of her brand new Vanity Fair cover, featuring her gorgeous naked pregnant body à la Demi Moore.

Stunning.

And just to make sure y'all understand, as ESPN points out, Williams has 23 singles Grand Slams and 14 more in doubles. Roger Federer, the male tennis player? He has 18 singles Slams and none in doubles.

Bow down.

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