"I don't think that was fair," the tennis star said of the criticism aimed at Drake. "I'm the one who's playing, who's making mistakes or making winners. I'm not one to blame anyone else for anything. And I don't think anyone else should either. I played a really good opponent that day. And I wasn't at my best."

Williams also addressed the issue of equal pay in athletics, something she's spoken out about before.

"I really hope that I can be helpful in that journey because I do believe that women deserve the same pay," she told writer Melissa Harris Perry. "We work just as hard as men do. I've been working, playing tennis, since I was 3 years old. And to be paid less just because of my sex — it doesn't seem fair.

"Will I have to explain to my daughter that her brother is gonna make more money doing the exact same job because he's a man? If they both played sports since they were 3 years old, they both worked just as hard, but because he's a boy, they're gonna give him more money? Like, how am I gonna explain that to her?"

Preaching to the choir, Serena. Preaching to the choir.