How Serena Williams rewrote the playbook for female athletes juggling motherhood and sport, and why it’s time for her to give her career a rest
Tennis
In tennis, nothing is more important than the timing of when one is ready to compete.
“I have to be in the best shape and the strongest mentally, physically to perform my best,” Serena Williams, who now has one daughter to raise and another on the way, told the Wall Street Journal. “It doesn’t matter if I’m playing, because my family is always with me and my business is always with me, so I have to be ready.”
Of note, Williams, who won the U.S. Open in 2017, has taken great pride in helping her teammates through their pregnancy or post-pregnancy struggles.
“She’s been nothing but supportive, and she’s done so much for me and my family,” fellow U.S. Open winner Ashleigh Barty, who has a three-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter, told USA Today. “She’s been really great. She doesn’t really talk about her family, just what she’s doing, but I know she really loves her kids and is very supportive.”
After winning the 2019 US Open, Williams took time out to make an inspirational appearance at the Women’s Tennis Association’s 2019 US Open Bracket Challenge in New York City on Jan. 4.
She didn’t just stand in front of a live audience, she told her fans, but a new song she had written to commemorate her victory, which she performed with the help of her team of dancers.
“I’ve never done anything like that before. It’s not like I wrote a poem,” Williams told the Wall Street Journal. “But this is just to celebrate my accomplishment.”
Tennis
How Serena Williams rewrote the playbook for female athletes juggling motherhood and sport, and why it’s time for her to give her career a rest
As a woman, having a child can be a mixed bag of emotions — joy on the one hand and sadness on the other. A new mom is often in