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Serena Williams kicked up a storm when she accused a Parisian restaurant of rejecting her family, despite being empty, online and now the story takes another twist as the t hits back at the tennis icon.
The Peninsula was the subject of the 42-year-old's ire on X.com, formerly Twitter, when the 23-time Grand Slam winner said she was "denied access" on August 5 accompanied with a photo of the logo of the business.
Yet now a spokesperson for the company has responded in a bid to clear up the situation and to protect their reputation to the 5.8m people who viewed Williams' post, as they insist they were fully booked.
"In response to Ms Williams' tweet," The Peninsula told The New York Post. "For whom we have the utmost iration and respect, as we do for all our esteemed guests.
"We reiterate our deepest apologies that we were not able to offer her a table at our rooftop bar when she arrived with her family and without a reservation. We do always try to make space for walk-in guests but sometimes this is not possible.
"On August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked, and the only unoccupied tables at that time belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L'Oiseau Blanc, which was also fully reserved.
"As an alternative, Ms Williams was offered an outside table downstairs at the hotel's La Terrasse Kléber."
The Peninsula apologies
The statement is the second attempt from The Peninsula to try to calm the waters after they initially apologized on the same day, although Williams' tweet remains live on Elon Musk's social media platform.
Williams, who is in Paris to watch the games along with her six-year-old daughter, Olympia, enjoyed the opening ceremony before being spotted hanging out with Rafa Nadal, who is poised to retire from the sport.
"Dear Mrs. Williams," The Peninsula initially posted to X.com on August 5. "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."