After a commanding straight set win in Round 1 of the 2020 Australian Open, 23-time grand slam tennis champion Serena Williams had no trouble maintaining that intensity, as she full-on roasted a reporter during the post-match press conference.
The exchange occurred when the journalist/victim asked Serena to share her thoughts regarding Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's recent decision to partially step back from their duties as "Senior Members" of England's royal family.
Serena's response?
She began with pure stoicism.
"Yeah, I have absolutely no comments on anything with that."
And after a brief pause, to a wave of hushed laughter across the room, she hit the reporter with some lighthearted condescension, grinning the entire time.
"But good try, good try, you did good."
Assumedly, eight-seeded Serena found herself in a good mood after taking down Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-0, 6-3. Serena looks to defeat Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia in Round 2.
See the live exchange below.
Several Twitter users had only good things to say about the exchange.
Some offered some more general thoughts about what fruits may come from the ongoing friendship between Williams & Markle.
The reporter evidently hoped to gain some info by tapping into the private convos Serena and Meghan likely have. The two, after all, have been friends for 10 years now, ever since meeting at a Super Bowl party back in 2010.
At the time, Markle discussed their meeting on her now inactive blog, The Tig.
"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."
Williams and her husband—and founder of Reddit—Alexis Ohanian even attended the royal wedding in 2018.
And Markle returned the loyalty, taking a last-minute, commercial flight to Williams' match at the 2019 U.S. Open in New York City.
With Meghan and Harry's new life decision, it's difficult to predict whether we'll see more or less Serena-Meghan content in the months and years to come. If it does happen, it'll undoubtedly be hard to miss, as those ladies appear to have captured some hearts along the way.
NBC News via Lisa Anderson