Serena Williams is The Business on the September cover of New York Magazine. Look at this! She looks great. Serena scored the cover because she just Serena Slam’d over everybody at Wimbledon, and because a lot of people believe she will dominate the US Open in September. The editorial is great and the interview… well, as has been noted before, Serena largely keeps to herself, even in interviews. The rare moments when she does let her guard down, she gets a ton of crap for whatever she says… and sometimes that backlash is deserved. So, Serena isn’t really giving NY Mag an in-depth, comprehensive interview, but it’s an enjoyable read all the same. Go here for the full piece and here are some highlights:

Her 16-run as a professional athlete: “I didn’t think it would last this long…But even if it was over, it’s a really long career.”

She’s not into nostalgia. “I have lots of trophies, and I’m just — I’m not that person that needs to see all these trophies. I have some in my house here, some in my house there, some I don’t know what happened to ’em. I have my grand-slam trophies … somewhere.”

She always wanted to design wedding gowns: “That was my first real love but then I was like, Listen. I’m playing professional tennis. I’ll just do athleticwear. We brought fashion back to tennis. It was great when Chris Evert was around. Tracy Austin had some great designs. But the ’90s was not a good time.”

On her eventual retirement: “I will finally be able to make some Miami Dolphin games and make some, uh, better decisions down there with the players.”

On the way she has changed the game: “My dad taught us to have early preparation. I notice the other girls have similar preparations to mine, and I’m like, ‘Hmmm … well, you don’t want to admit where you got that from, right?’ ”

On Indian Wells: “All I could see was a sea of rich people — mostly older, mostly white — standing and booing lustily, like some kind of genteel lynch mob. I don’t mean to use such inflammatory language.”

When she returns to Indian Wells: “If someone has a bad call, I’m really forthcoming. I’ll look you in the eye and say, ‘Are you sure?’ I’m okay with confrontation. I’ve just” — eyebrow raise — “changed the way I state certain things.”

The outrage when she’s famously gotten upset on the court: “I just think it was weird. I just really thought that was strange. You have people who made a career out of yelling at line judges. And a woman does it, and it’s like a big problem. But you know, hey.”

Bearing the weight of her race, sex and athletic prowess: “I don’t think about it. I don’t dwell in the past. If I do, I’ll be swallowed up by negativity. As Mandela once said, ‘I will be in a mental prison.’ ”

[From New York Magazine]

I agree with the article’s premise, which is that Serena is a unicorn in tennis and in sports generally speaking. I also agree with the premise that Serena has gotten so much implicitly and explicitly racist and sexist crap over the years, it’s a wonder she’s still standing. But she is standing – not only that, she’s still thriving and winning and dominating. All hail Serena!

Photos courtesy of New York Magazine.