Serena Williams’ 2020 tennis season is over. It was over the minute she withdrew from her second round match at the (pandemic-belated) French Open. But just because tennis is over for Serena this year, doesn’t mean that she’s going to stay quiet. Serena covers the November issue of British Vogue. The dress she’s wearing on the cover is yet another collab between Nike and Off-White, meaning Virgil Abloh, who collaborates with Nike on many of Serena’s recent tennis kits, including the black catsuit (French Open ‘18), the deranged ballerina look (US Open ‘18) and the cute two-piece graffiti look (FO ‘19). So, what IS Serena promoting? Everything, really, but mostly she’s just being Serena and talking about what she wants to talk about.
Being a black woman and a GOAT: “Underpaid, undervalued. [But] I’ve never been a person that has been like, ‘I want to be a different colour’ or ‘I want my skin tone to be lighter.’ I like who I am, I like how I look, and I love representing the beautiful dark women out there. For me, it’s perfect. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd: “Now, we as Black people have a voice – and technology has been a huge part of that. We see things that have been hidden for years; the things that we as people have to go through. This has been happening for years. People just couldn’t pull out their phones and video it before… At the end of May, I had so many people who were white writing to me saying, ‘I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through.’ I think for a minute they started – not to understand, because I don’t think you can understand – but they started to see. I was like: well, you didn’t see any of this before? I’ve been talking about this my whole career. It’s been one thing after another.”
Her venture capital firm and her size-inclusive fashion label, Serena. “Tennis is a small play in the whole scheme of things. In this society, women are not taught or expected to be that future leader or future CEO. The narrative has to change. And maybe it doesn’t get better in time for me, but someone in my position can show women and people of colour that we have a voice, because Lord knows I use mine. I love sticking up for people and supporting women. Being the voice that millions of people don’t have.”
A renewed appreciation for her own body. “How amazing that my body has been able to give me the career that I’ve had, and I’m really thankful for it. I only wish I had been thankful sooner. It just all comes full circle when I look at my daughter.”
Changing beauty standards: “When I was growing up, what was celebrated was different. Venus looked more like what is really acceptable: she has incredibly long legs, she’s really, really thin. I didn’t see people on TV that looked like me, who were thick. There wasn’t positive body image. It was a different age. I’ve never been like anybody else in my life, and I’m not going to start now.”
She’s right that Venus was always held up as being more “acceptable” in the tennis world because Venus was tall, slender, graceful and elegant. But let’s be clear, BOTH sisters got tons of racist sh-t thrown at them. They still do.
Personally, I love that Serena has so many side projects because I feel like that reflects her active mind, and it reflects that she isn’t just tennis, she’s interested in tons of other stuff. There are always commentators who are like “if she wants to win, she needs to focus exclusively on tennis.” I’m not so sure. But I will say this: Serena seems sort of at peace these days. I think she keeps playing because she wants to play, and because why leave that money on the table. But I could also see her calling it a day in the next year or so.
Here’s Serena’s bag check – it’s funny because it’s just Serena name-dropping all of her sponsorships and side-projects. I’m shocked that she wasn’t like “and here’s my Chase Mobile app blah blah blah and the electronic key to my Lincoln.”
Cover and IG courtesy of British Vogue.
Love her. She looks stunning on the cover but that shot on the blue mat is a bit puzzling. She looks lovely but why have her pose slumped in the corner like that?
That’s her “just a small nap and I’ll be good to go” look. As the GOAT of tennis, a mom, and business women, she deserves all the naps.
I love her. I love that she was a VC before marrying Alexis and she’s still doing her thing after him. I love that they are showing Olympia that she can be anything she wants to be. I especially love that she checked her ego and let someone else teach Olympia to play tennis.
I’ve always liked both Venus and Serena. Venus personality wise seems more my type, but I like Serena’s fearlessness and her seemingly outgoing nature. I hope she achieve that win we’ve all been waiting for and I wish her and Alexis and their daughter many wonderful years together.
So wait. NOBODY caught that Serena just no-name-checked Meghan Markle? Meghan is the one who gave her the chin-jaw mask tip!
Thank you! I couldn’t figure that out 😄
“I don’t see her…I don’t know her…”, LOL! Go, Serena!
Ooh! Nice catch! Do we know which brand she uses?
I love Serena with my whole heart 💕💖💕
I think I’m around her age. Agree what she said about the body type preferences back when they started. At that time i didn’t follow tennis but would have envied her sisters thinness and not her thickness. I was blessed with a really small waist medium boobs and my legs and hips were honestly like just a bit thick I was not overweight at all but I felt like a monster since I’m also 5’9 and wanted thin legs so much. It’s not very possible to change as your legs /butt are mainly muscle, you’d have to really deprive yourself, like I don’t even know how that would work. It’s so weird/unbelievable to me that Many people are now insecure about being thin and actually Getting implants that are bigger than my butt ever was. Most of my thin friends eventually had boob jobs, even though they were already quite pretty, I found them both gorgeous and envied their thinness, and They didn’t have issues dating. Expensive surgeries and could have health issues. Let’s embrace diversity and not make any body type feel “undesired.” The problem is men are watching too much porn too early, following insta with photo shopped sexy women, etc and making women feel like garbage. It’s a huge societal problem. Today I miss my super thin waist and super perky boobs but I’m so grateful that my legs And butt Which I hated are good for walking fast, And my height/ long arms helps me reach things. it comes in very handy. And the thickness makes my waist look smaller but I would like to get back my old weight as I have some body dysmorphia about having fat on my arms and upper back, and feel I’m not at the right weight for me. It is great to have a supportive partner who never makes me feel fat For the few years we’ve been together (I got a little fatter during Covid).
Saw it, respected it, I love that she said very good friend and then put a no touch boundary on it.
I love her! I also keep a small bag in my big bag, but that is the only thing our bags have in common 😂 .
I would love to see her become a tennis commentator when she retires. She’s great at post-game analysis whenever she does after-game interviews.
I love Serena’s Instagram because you can really tell that she is happy with her life. I love how feminine she is. It warms my heart when I see her dancing around in a princess dress or doing make up with Olympia. We just never got to see that when all the content was controlled by others. And no, she absolutely should not be focusing solely on tennis! She is already the GOAT. Let the woman kick a** in all other aspects of her life!