"This country is going to sh*t" - Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs slams Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after first US measles death in 10 years

Rennae Stubbs, Serena Williams' ex-coach, has reacted angrily on social media to the news of the first measles death in the US since 2015. Stubbs, now a respected tennis pundit and commentator, often uses her various platforms to express her opinions on social and political issues.

Measles was thought to have been eliminated from the US at the end of the last century, chiefly because of the widespread use of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses of the shots are proven to be 97% effective, and children are vaccinated at age one, and again at age five.

Stubbs took to her X (formerly Twitter) account to respond to a CNN headline, which read:

"First measles death reported in the West Texas outbreak is school-aged child | CNN"

Stubbs blamed the new outbreak on the USA's new administration, and specifically its recently appointed health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Junior. RFK, as he is commonly known, is a noted vaccine skeptic. In Stubbs' view, Kennedy's stance on vaccines has contributed to large numbers of people refusing to give their kids the MMR shot, leading to the current outbreak. She posted:

"Seriously! Wtf! This country is going to sh--! @RFKJr_Official thanks"

Kennedy is widely believed to be a vaccine-denier; which his interview on Fox News in 2023 appears to confirm. Kennedy stated that "autism comes from vaccines", a phrase that he has often repeated. However, when he was sworn in, Kennedy insisted that he was not anti-vaccination and that his own children had been vaccinated.

Rennae Stubbs has joined good friend Martina Navratilova in roundly criticizing the new Trump administration

2024 New York #LWTSUMMIT - September 19 - Source: Getty

Rennae Stubbs was once the top-ranked women's doubles player in the world and won four Grand Slams Doubles titles in the 2000s. She's best known for coaching Serena Williams at the end of the multi-major winner's career and for overseeing Samantha Stosur's 2021 US Open doubles title win.

She currently hosts the "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast" and previously worked as a tennis analyst at the Channel Seven Network before moving to ESPN. Stubbs, a long-time advocate of LGBTQ+ and women's rights alongside her good friend Martina Navratilova has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump's new regime.

She's called the president's cabinet appointments, including that of JFK Jr, "ridiculous", and once posted on X that:

"Ugh this guy has the empathy meter of a t*rd"

In response to the accusations, Kennedy suggested at Donald Trump's first cabinet meeting, that measles outbreaks in the US have not been uncommon. He said, according to nbcnews.com:

“There have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year there were 16. So, it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.”

Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock disputed Kennedy's numbers, telling nbcnews.com that she's had 20 children in her care with measles, none of which had been vaccinated. Rennae Stubbs' very public accusation towards the new health secretary would appear to be backed by the doctor's evidence.