Savannah Guthrie awkwardly pressed Serena Williams on a potential tennis return on the “Today” show Wednesday.
The journalist, 54, brought up the sport mid-interview, pointing out that the athlete, 44, “re-entered the drug testing pool [in October 2025], which some people see as the precursor to a return to tennis.”
When Guthrie said she “had to ask” whether the Olympian will go back to playing professionally, Williams asked, “Really? Are you asking me that on the ‘Today’ show? Oh, my gosh. Really?”
Guthrie attempted to clarify, “Is that a no?” — only for Williams to parrot the question back.
The tennis champion noted, “People on the set are laughing. This is distracting. … I’m just having fun and enjoying my life right now. … That’s not a yes or a no. I don’t know. I’m just gonna see what happens.”
Guthrie insisted this was “a maybe,” to which Williams clapped back, “That’s not a maybe. Listen, I have two kids. I’m a full-time stay-at-home mom. When I filled out a form the other day for occupation, [I wrote] ‘Housewife.’”
The NBC personality, however, brought her line of questioning back to Williams’ decision to “re-enter” the International Tennis Integrity Agency drug testing pool.
“Did I? I don’t know if I was out,” Williams replied before declaring she couldn’t “discuss this” topic further.
Guthrie pushed on, claiming that if Williams wanted to put rumors of a return “to bed,” the sitdown was “a good moment” to do so.”
Williams, laughing, quipped, “Put this to bed? I want to go to bed. It’s early.”
As Guthrie closed the interview, she asserted Williams “said a lot” by playing coy with her answers, and Williams branded her “funny.”
Williams was set to return in the morning show’s fourth hour for an interview with Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones — but Craig Melvin joked from off-camera that Williams would “hopefully” stay on set.
“She’s not mad at me,” Guthrie repeatedly insisted before asking Williams directly, “You’re not mad at me?”
After cracking a joke with Melvin, Williams shook her head at Guthrie.
Reps for Guthrie and Williams have yet to respond to Page Six’s requests for comment on the uncomfortable moment.
Williams announced her tennis retirement in an August 2022 essay for Vogue.
“These days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter,” the two-time mom wrote at the time.
She and husband Alexis Ohanian are the parents of daughters Olympia, 8, and Adira, 2.
