Freaking wow - Serena Williams speaks in Italian

[malaise]

after winning the Italian Open - to cheering crowds -this lady is awesome.

[UMTerp01]

1. She is my Queen!!!

I love tennis and love me some Serena Williams. Back in the winners circle for the first time since last August. Perfect prep right before the French Open. And yes she slayed them with her Italian. She knows some Italian and also impressed the French crowd a couple times speaking French after winning her most recent French Open titles.

[malaise]

7. She lives in France so that's expected

This was a delightful surprise

[jalan48]

2. Classy, as is her sister.

[malaise]

8. Indeed

Decent parents help

[ConservativeDemocrat]

3. She speaks French as well. Here she is at the French Open

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[malaise]

5. She's fluent in French

but she pointed out that she only knows a little Italian.

[RiverNoord]

4. Wow.

That is - wow. I had no idea.

Her French appears superb in ConservativeDemocrat's link, and her Italian is very, very good.

She is one remarkable woman. And Venus, too?

That we're so heavily monolingual helps make us appear arrogant and/or ignorant around the world. Seeing her speak like that makes me proud, for a moment, to be an American, which is becoming a rarity for me as this Presidential election period gets uglier and uglier.

I wonder if the Williams sisters could continue their careers while serving as Ambassadors to France and Italy?

[malaise]

6. One of the commentators actually made the point that it's nice

to hear her speak Italian since the Euro players speak four and five languages while the Americans only speak English.

I was delighted.

[RiverNoord]

9. We've got a military presence everywhere,

business interests everywhere, and double-standards everywhere. We're seen by so many around the world a bufoonish and dangerously ignorant.

And then someone like Serena Williams speaks to Europeans, in European games, beautifully, in the language of the host country.

I'm not a guy who gives sports figures much credit, generally, but, damn! I've got two nieces, twins, age nine, and the next time I see them I will have a few clips ready . I think they're already minor fans (they're mostly basketball fans) but I'm going to make sure they see such brilliant examples of how gracefully a female American sports star can behave abroad.

(Also makes me wish I was about 15 years younger and in the kind of shape I was then... Whew! )

Thanks so much for the OP, malaise!

[malaise]

10. Nice post

It's that exceptional crap that blinds way too many Americans. Fitting in helps.