Double fault: Nastase defiant about Fed Cup ban, Williams comment
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA— Ilie Nastase was unrepentant after being suspended from the Fed Cup for abusing the British team and the referee in a playoff.
Nastase, the Romania captain, also didn’t believe his recent remarks about the unborn child of Serena Williams were racist.
“I want to know what word I used is racist?” he asked The Associated Press by phone on Monday from Budapest, Hungary. He added he was a friend of Williams.
The International Tennis Federation provisionally suspended Nastase from the Fed Cup on Sunday, a day after he hurled expletives at British player Johanna Konta, Britain captain Anne Keothavong and the umpire. The referee ejected Nastase from the tie.
“Yes, I lost my temper,” he said by phone.
But he didn’t believe his punishment was proportional.
“It was crazy, it was crazy,” he said.
At the draw ceremony in Constanta on Friday, Nastase was overheard speculating about the skin colour of the baby the pregnant Williams is expecting. Williams is black. Her fiancé, Alexis Ohanian, is white.
Williams responded on Monday over Instagram: “It disappoints me to know we live in a society where people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments towards myself and (my) unborn child.”
Nastase earned the nickname Nasty for his on-court outbursts and gamesmanship in the 1970s. Reactions in Romania to Nastase’s outburst have been mixed.
George Cosac, the chairperson of the Romanian Tennis Federation, defended Nastase by suggesting he was picked on by the British officials. Ion Tiriac, a businessman and Nastase’s old doubles partner, also stood by him, criticizing Konta for walking off the court.
Many Romanians were critical of Nastase on social media, saying he embarrassed himself and Romania.
Nastase, also a former Davis Cup captain, suggested he was no longer a relevant figure in tennis.
“I am 71 years old” — though he does not turn that age until July — “I am no longer a sportsman,” he said.