Serena Williams expressed her disappointment with one fine dining restaurant in Paris.
On Monday, August 5, the retired tennis player revealed on X (formerly known as Twitter) that The Peninsula Hotel in Paris denied her and her and Alexis Ohanian’s children — Alexis Olympia Jr., 6, and Adira River, 11 months — a table on Monday.
“Yikes @PeninsulaParis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places 🫠but never with my kids,” she wrote. “Always a first. 🙄 #Olympic2024.”
The restaurant then replied to the four-time Olympic gold medalist, 42.
“Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved,” read the company’s first reply on Monday.
“We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris,” a second post followed.
Representatives for Williams and The Peninsula Paris did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Monday.
An employee at L’Oiseau Blanc, Maxime Mannevy, told Variety that Williams looked “unrecognizable” when she arrived at the restaurant with another woman and a stroller.
“When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel,” said Mannevy, who told the outlet she was not working when Williams was at the restaurant. “My colleague didn’t recognize her and feels terrible, but he told her what he would have told any other client, which is to wait downstairs in the bar for a table to become available. That was absolutely nothing personal.”
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The Olympic torch is being taken down the Seine in a boat with (L-R) Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal, Nadia Comaneci and Serena Williams during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal, Nadia Comaneci and Serena Williams during the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on July 26, 2024. YOAN VALAT/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
The Peninsula Paris also issued a statement to TODAY. “In response to Mrs. Williams’ tweet, for whom we have the utmost admiration and respect, as we do for all our esteemed guests; we can only reiterate our deepest apologies for her perception of tonight’s situation,” the hotel said.
The statement continued: “Today, August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed unfortunately fully booked, and the only unoccupied tables at that time belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was also fully reserved tonight. She has always and will always be more than welcome with her family to The Peninsula.”
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The Peninsula hotel
The Peninsula Hotel in Paris on March 6, 2021. ALAMY
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Williams and her family arrived in Paris just before the Olympic opening ceremony. During the opening ceremony on July 26, the 23-time Grand Slam winner joined several athletes as a torch bearer.
After the opening ceremony, Williams stayed in the French capital and made appearances at different Olympic events. She attended the match in which Serbian tennis pro Novak Djokovic defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and scored gold in the men’s singles tournament.
Before retiring from tennis, Williams won four Olympic gold medals for Team USA. At the London Games in 2012, she earned one in women’s singles and another in women’s doubles with her sister, Venus. The pair also won gold in women’s doubles at the Sydney 2000 Games and Beijing 2008 Games.
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