Serena Williams has played down her spat with Dominic Thiem at the French Open that led to the Austrian saying she had a “bad personality”.

There was controversy at Roland Garros when Thiem’s post-match press conference was abruptly cut short in order to allow Williams to fulfil her media duties after her third-round loss.

It left Thiem, who was still in the tournament and made it to the final, seething and he later criticised the 23-time grand-slam champion.

The two have since cleared the air, but Williams, who is preparing for her Wimbledon campaign, insists that she did not demand for Thiem to be removed from the press conference, as has been reported.

“I asked them to put me in the small room,” the 37-year-old said.

“I begged them to put me in the small room, and they didn’t.

“I said, ‘Listen, I can come back. I’m just going to go back’. They were like, ‘No, stay here’.

“They pulled him out. I was like, ‘You guys are so rude to do that’, quote-unquote, that’s what I said. The next day I had a bad personality. Literally that’s what happened.

“I actually stuck up for the guy, so I don’t understand how I got a bad personality for telling them what they did was wrong to him.

“But we spoke about it. I’ve always liked him. I still like him. He’s a great player. I mean, he’s unbelievable.

“I’m really, quite frankly, too old to be in controversy. That’s why I just wanted to clear the air.

“I’m like, ‘Dude, I told them that it wasn’t right what they did’. He said he didn’t say ‘bad personality’, that the media mixed up his words. It’s all good.”

Williams’ French Open campaign was hampered by a knee injury and she has only been back training for the past two weeks.

She is aiming for a 24th grand slam and eighth at SW19, but is not thinking that far ahead.

“I haven’t had the best time and preparation that I normally would have,” she said.

“I’ve had a good week and a half, but I have been really just mentally training, physically training for that time here. I’m just going to do the best that I can now that I’m here.

“I can’t go into grand slams thinking about records. I just have to go in a grand slam and think about just the first match.”

Usurped from the top ranking by Australian Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka has won two of the past three grand slams and will regain her position if she claims victory at the All England Club.

Osaka does admit that she succumbed to the pressure of being on top of the world.

“Mentally it was way more stress and pressure than I could have imagined,” she said.

“I don’t think there was anything that could have prepared me for that, especially since I’m kind of an overthinker.

“I think it’s better for me now, I was going to say lower ranked, to be No.2 here because the only upside (of being No.1) is if you win the tournament, you’re automatically No.1.

“That, for sure, is a really big goal of mine. I don’t have to think about defending the ranking or anything.”