Ilie Nastase handed four-year ban for racist Serena Williams slur

Former grand slam winner Ilie Nastase has been banned from any official roles in tennis until 2021 and fined $10,000 for his foul-mouthed outbursts during a Fed Cup tie between Great Britain and Romania in April.

However, the 70-year-old Nastase will be able to attend any of the four tennis majors because they “lie outside the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation,” the ITF said.

During the tie, Nastase, the Romanian team captain, made “racially insensitive” comments about Serena Williams’ unborn child, the London-based organization said in an emailed statement on Friday.

He also made “abusive and threatening comments” to British No. 1 Jo Konta and a female British reporter who had reported his comments about Williams.

Nastase also swore at the umpire and “made advances of a sexual nature” to British team captain Anne Keothavong during a World Group II playoff clash in the Black Sea resort of Constanta.

The ITF internal adjudication panel has suspended the former world No. 1 from acting in an official capacity in all of its team competitions and tennis circuits until 31 December 2020. He will also be banned from attending such events until 2019 and fined $10,000.

Ilie Nastase returns a ball during the Paris International tournament in June 1977.

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“Chocolate with milk?”

On the first day of the tie, Nastase had wondered out loud what skin color Williams’ unborn child would have after Romanian No. 1 Simona Halep was answering a reporter’s question about the 23-time grand slam winner.

“Let’s see what color it has,” Romanian and British reporters had quoted Nastase as saying. “Chocolate with milk?”

Williams and her fiance, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, are expecting their first child this summer. Ohanian is white.

The most successful female tennis player in the Open era. Serena Williams won her 23rd grand slam at Australian Open in January 2017 to eclipse Steffi Graf's record for grand slam titles in the Open era.

The American captured the title in Melbourne without dropping a set and is now one shy of the all-time grand slam total held by Margaret Court.

Williams defeated her sister Venus -- at 36 the oldest grand slam finalist in the Open era - in straight sets to claim her seventh Australian Open title.

But her achievements in Melbourne Park were made all the more remarkable when the tennis great announced in April that she and fiancee Alexis Ohanian (right) were expecting their first child "this fall."

Williams had posted a side profile shot of herself in a yellow swimsuit on Snapchat with a caption that read "20 weeks" before deleting it, later revealing she did not mean to post the picture.

Williams and Ohanian -- Reddit's co-founder --had also surprised fans in December by announcing their engagement. The pair had managed to keep their romance out of the spotlight.

News of Williams' pregnancy meant she had won the Australian Open while in her first trimester.

Williams will miss the rest of the season, having not played since the Australian Open, but says she will return to the WTA Tour next year.

The American appears to be enjoying her time away from the Tour, channeling her inner Na'vi during a sneak peek at Pandora - The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The tennis star has also been traveling the world. The mum-to-be was in Monaco last month for the F1 Grand Prix and was pictured with Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo (left) and Max Verstappen

In June, it was revealed that Williams was the only woman in the new Forbes list of the world's 100 highest paid athletes. Williams, ranked 51, made $27 million last year.

Williams in June also responded to John McEnroe's claims that she would struggle to be in the world's top 700 if she was on the men's Tour, telling her fellow American to "respect me and my privacy."

Serena Williams in 2017

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Serena reaction

The outbursts angered Williams, who condemned Nastase’s behavior towards her and her fellow tennis players a day after the tie via Instagram.

“It disappoints me to know we live in a society in which people like Ilie Nastase can make such racist comments towards myself and unborn child, and sexist comments against my peers,” Williams wrote at the time.

British player Johanna Konta cheers on her team in the Fed Cup and Romania.

Nastase had been thrown out of the tie after he reduced Wimbledon semifinalist Konta to tears following a foul-mouthed rant directed at her, the umpire and Keothavong on the second day of the three-day competition when the British team had complained of crowd noise during a match.

Nastase’s defense

Nastase’s defense team told the ITF panel the two-time grand slam winner “comes from a nation where racism is not ‘as delicate an issue as it may be in other parts of the world.’”

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They went on to say “there is also no prior evidence of Mr Nastase being racist,” pointing to his friendships and partnerships with the late Arthur Ashe and former French Open winner Yannick Noah, “as evidence to the contrary.”