Natalie Portman says she's terrible at tennis

Natalie Portman was perched across from Ellen DeGeneres on the latter's titular talk show, and the host had a prompt.

You've taken to playing tennis, Ellen intoned, sending up a lob of a verbal volley for Portman to smash at will. And she does so, here at the 2:08 mark:

"I'm so terrible," Portman told DeGeneres. "I think it's really important to do something that you love, even if you're terrible at it, to enjoy something."

The actor, who has portrayed characters ranging from Queen Amidala to Jacqueline Kennedy, might find some comfort in the reports that her peer, Emma Stone – who has actually played a tennis professional, Billie Jean King, to much fanfare – was also not so great at hitting the fuzzy yellow balls.

"I'm mainly getting balls into the court next to us," Portman admitted freely, alternately laughing and faux-despairing about her plight on court before sharing that it's not solely her fault that she's so bad. "But also, the bushes are moving because there are men in there taking pictures."

Ah, paparazzi. Leave it to those slouches not to allow her a perfectly golden opportunity each week to receive instruction on how to properly smack a topspin forehand.

Needless to say, the daytime-talk host soon rescinded her offer for a pickup match: "I mean, no, I don't want to play now. I want someone to hit it back."

Poor Natalie Portman. Even Ellen prefers a winner.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.

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