If you’re into tennis then you know that the US Open has started and also know that there’s apparently a long-going rivalry between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. I say “apparently” because let’s be honest, Maria doesn’t really win, so how is she a rival? Wouldn’t there need to be a win/loss balance? There is not.
Well, Serena’s husband, Alexis Ohanian, may not really be worried his wife is going to lose to Maria, but he’s still ready to troll the other team hard–and so he wore a D.A.R.E. shirt to their match yesterday, which a lot of people thought was a jab at Maria who got temporarily banned for doping.
The Standard UK says that during the match, which saw Serena come out on top with a 6-1, 6-1 win, Alexis may have decided to be petty. Someone pointed out his $7 D.A.R.E. t-shirt under his probably super expensive jacket, and suggested that this was not done by accident:
the second drag of the serena-sharapova match happened off the court, with @alexisohanian in a d.a.r.e shirt.
if you know, you know. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/CbnVXUtdeF
— get on the drums, ro (@oscar_pope) August 27, 2019
if you know, you know. D.A.R.E. was an anti-drugs school program popular in the 80s and 90s, standing for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It “envisions a world in which students everywhere are empowered… to lead lives free from violence, substance abuse, and other dangerous behaviours.”
Maria was banned from tennis in 2016 for doping for 15 months. She was found to be using the banned substance meldonium. But Maria was like, “I didn’t know!”, claiming she didn’t realize meldonium was now on the list of banned substances since it had been updated that same year:
“I did not feel it was a huge responsibility of mine to write all those medications down. As I said before, in hindsight, this is a mistake of mine… I did not feel it was a responsibility to have to write down every single match drink I was taking, gel, vitamin that I was taking, even if I took it once during the last seven days. I did not think it was of high importance… I know that it’s on the ‘Vital and Essential’ list in Russia, along with ibuprofen. It’s taken as aspirin in Russia. So to me I can’t even [get] my head around that fact.”
Alexis himself let his comments on the matter be expressed through his daughter’s doll:
— Alexis Ohanian Sr.
(@alexisohanian) August 27, 2019
(@alexisohanian) Honestly… that GIF is haunting. Children find the creepiest shit cute, I tell ya… Well, I’m glad that Serena has found herself a man who can whisk her off to foreign countries on a whim for dinner and defend her honor by trolling her competition at her workplace. True love ain’t dead yet, folks.
Pic: Twitter