Serena Williams' remark after Wimbledon 2019 loss goes viral amid Simona Halep's doping saga, clip wrongly credits American for Naomi Osaka's AO wins

A remark made by Serena Williams following her defeat to Simona Halep in the 2019 Wimbledon Championships final has gone viral in light of the Romanian's doping ban. The clip has also garnered extra attention for erroneously attributing Naomi Osaka's Australian Open titles to Williams.

Earlier this month, the International Tennis Integrity Agency imposed a four-year ban on Halep for two doping violations. That has led fans to reassess the former World No. 1's past accomplishments, particularly her 6-2, 6-2 win over Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon Championships final.

In a popular TikTok video posted by @zain_____, the user shared a clip from the 23-time Grand Slam champion's post-match speech after her defeat in the 2019 Wimbledon final. In the clip, Williams lauded the exceptional level of tennis displayed by the Romanian.

"Yeah, she literally played out of her mind today," Serena Williams said in her post-match speech.

The user claimed that the remark implied that Williams sensed something unusual was going on.

"Serena knew something was up," the user said.

The user alleged that Halep was doping during this period and refuted all other explanations for Serena Williams' defeat. She also made a veiled reference to the 23-time Grand Slam champion seemingly throwing shade at Halep after the announcement of the ban.

"Anyway, she beat her in straight sets under an hour. Matches like these last two hours. Nobody was like, 'let's try and test this b*tch.'

"The most hilarious thing when this came out, the interest was like, 'Serena lost cause she moved her feet like two times during the match.' First of all, she moved her feet eight times, eight is a better number," she continued.

As the user continued to reject all explanations for the American's defeat, she mistakenly attributed the 2019 and 2021 Australian Open titles to Williams, when in fact, they were won by Naomi Osaka.

"Then people were like, 'She just came back from pregnancy.' She had the baby in 2017, this was 2019, so no Matthew from Myspace. Not to mention that same year, she won the Australian Open five months earlier, so leave the baby out of this," she said.

"Then people were saying, 'Serena lost because she's old.' And no, two years later, Serena played Simona at the Australian Open and won the whole thing," she added.

Incidentally, Serena Williams beat Simona Halep at both the 2019 and 2021 editions of the Australian Open.

The user ended the clip on a humorous note, joking that if she were in Williams' position, she would have requested a drug test for Halep during her post-match speech.

"Serena's better than me. In this interview, I would have been like, 'Pee in the cup, b*tch'," she concluded.

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Serena Williams and Simona Halep's head-to-head record also misrepresented in viral video

Simona Halep (left) and Serena Williams

Serena Williams enjoyed a dominant 10-2 head-to-head record against Simona Halep.

The creator of the viral video argued that the Romanian's win in the 2019 Wimbledon final was an outlier, citing Williams' withdrawal from their semifinal clash at the 2015 Indian Wells Open as the 31-year-old's second win.

However, it's important to note that the walkover isn't included in the head-to-head record. Instead, Halep's second victory is credited to her 6-0, 6-2 win over Williams at the 2014 WTA Finals.

"Look at this, in the 12 times they have played each other, Serena has won 10 times. And one of them doesn't even count because Serena, in 2015, withdrew because she had an injury," she said.

The user also claimed that it was allegedly evident that Halep had used performance-enhancing drugs during her win over Serena Williams at Wimbledon.

"So the only time that Simona beat Serena was at Wimbledon, a Grand Slam, one of the biggest tennis tournaments. Everyone was like, 'How did Simona Halep beat Serena at Wimbledon.' We know how. We didn't know then but we know now," she added.