Tennis superstar Serena Williams has issued an apology for calling a rape victim "lucky." The 31-year-old court champion, who currently ranks number one in women's singles tennis, is facing backlash over her seemingly callous remark about the Steubenville High School rape victim.

In an interview with U.S. Rolling Stone magazine, Williams questioned the 16-year-old high school student who was raped at a party last year why she was drunk and unable to remember the incident.

"Obviously, I don't know, maybe she wasn't a virgin, but she shouldn't have put herself in that position unless they slipped her something, then that's different."

The incident of the Steubenville rape case in Ohio in the U.S. occurred in August 2012 when the unnamed girl was publicly and repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped by her peers. The heinous crime was recorded by other students and was shared through mobile phone multimedia messages and on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Two students, Ma'lik Richmond and Trent Mays, who were both 16 then, were convicted in juvenile court for the rape of a minor.

Williams asked the interviewer, "Do you think it was fair, what they got?" as they watched the case on the news.

"They did something stupid, but I don't know. I'm not blaming the girl, but if you're a 16-year-old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don't take drinks from other people. She's 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn't remember?

"It could have been much worse. She's lucky."

Her comment drew negative reactions from readers, who said that Williams appeared to be saying that it was somehow the girl's fault for being raped because she put herself in such position.

Williams, who is in England to play at Wimbledon, has since apologised, although it appeared that she insinuated that she did not say the controversial statement.

"What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened. For someone to be raped, and at only sixteen, is such a horrible tragedy! For both families involved - that of the rape victim and of the accused. I am currently reaching out to the girl's family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article," she wrote on her Web site.

"What was written - what I supposedly said - is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame."

She then went on to mention her efforts in advocating women's rights, saying, "I have fought all of my career for women's equality, women's equal rights, respect in their fields - anything I could do to support women I have done.

"My prayers and support always goes out to the rape victim. In this case, most especially, to an innocent sixteen-year-old child."

The question remains, however, if she really did say what was written on the article.