Serena Williams covers the latest issue of the WSJ. Magazine, the Wall Street Journal’s weekly magazine. I guess I was expecting an intense piece about race, competition, and ambition. But what I got was a lighter piece in which most of the quotes are from other people, people who admire and love Serena, like Anna Wintour, Billie Jean King and more. Plus, I just think Serena is feeling lighter and less stressed these days. The pressure she feels is the pressure she always feels to win, to be better, to be victorious. But she’s been at this for two decades and she doesn’t want to just live and breathe tennis. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
What she would be doing if she had never started playing tennis: “I think I would be in California. Maybe I would be married? Maybe I would have kids? I would like to believe I would. I would have probably gone into some kind of science. I love animals. Maybe I would have become a veterinarian.”
Dancing in Beyonce’s Lemonade: “I’ve known Bey for a long time… I got really sore from dancing!”
What tennis announcers should discuss more: “I don’t think they talk enough about the lifestyle and what it’s [become] in the past 10 years. Players used to have their parents. Or a coach. But now you wake up, sleep, eat…everything is tennis. The gym is tennis. Nutrition. Physio.”
She loves her pod chair that hangs from the ceiling: “I saw it on Pinterest,” Williams says proudly.
Keeping Beyonce’s Lemonade a secret: “If you tell me, ‘Don’t say anything,’ I won’t say anything.”
Her dated pop culture favorites: Williams’s favorite dance song is more of a vintage choice: “Conga,” by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Her favorite TV show? The Golden Girls. (Yes: I will point out that both “Conga” and The Golden Girls debuted in 1985, when Williams was a toddler.) She has never watched Game of Thrones (“I saw the first five minutes, and I was like, ‘This is waaaaay too much for me’ ”). She wishes she got out more. “I am too much of a hermit. I go through phases—I was going out to dinner a lot, but I’ve [reverted] to my old, staying home thing.”
Who she would love to spend a day with: “Elon Musk. I’d follow him to see what he’s doing with all his innovations, all of the stuff he’s creating. I’d love to figure out where he’s going.”When she’ll retire: “I think it will hit me. I’ll just have the feeling of ‘I don’t want to do it anymore.’ ”
I was thinking the other day about how less-fun everything has gotten, career-wise. Maybe it’s because we could see how much day-drinking happened on Mad Men, but it does seem like everyone, at every level, used to have more fun in their chosen careers back in the day. You could gossip and drink and have a long lunch and still play tennis or play baseball or work as a journalist or whatever. I think that’s what Serena is talking about, that in the early days of her career, she could have her parents around her and she didn’t have to account for every minute of every day, and there wasn’t the expectation that every minute or every day was going to be devoted to tennis.
As for her pop culture tastes… I love that she loves the Golden Girls. I love that she loves Gloria Estefan. But Serena could tear into some Game of Thrones!! She’d like it! I feel like she’d be more House Stark than House Targaryen.
Photos courtesy of WSJ. Magazine.
These pics are 🔥🔥🔥 She looks amazing!
I’m with her on Game of Thrones. I watched one episode and realized that it definitely wasn’t for me.
same here.
I watched up to Season 4 then lost interest. All that pretend talk in the Dragon bit.. drove me crazy.. like me pretending I could speak Spanish when I was 8 with my cousin just babbling nonsense.
I stopped watching around Season 4 too. I plan on catching up at some point, but it’s not really the kind of show you can watch while you’re also doing something else, and it just doesn’t keep me hooked like Breaking Bad or some of the other popular dramas did/do.
I tried to watch it but there was a disturbing rape and then I stopped. That’s not entertainment to me.
Serena is very interesting. Also…the pod chair! The 60s/70s are definitely back! Wow. 🙂 (those chairs ARE fun. totally)
Her makeup is really letting her rich, beautiful skin color/tone speak for itself.
The makeup is PERFECTION and her face looks beautiful but I wish they had her mixing up her expressions a bit.
Her body looks incredible as always.
I completely agree with her about GoT. I tried but I just couldn’t hang with all the beards and medieval stuff.
The lighting on the cover shot is off for me, it makes the bottom half of her face kind of blur into the rest. Shame because her skin looks beautiful.
Same. Everybody keeps telling me to watch it. I’ve tried twice now. I don’t get the appeal.
I was a huge fan of ASOIAF even before the series was filmed, and I loved the series, but stopped watching last season when they started messing with my favourite characters too much, and it wasn’t needed at all. But I plan on starting again, I just need to find time. I also prefer to binge watch so I’m waiting for this season to be over so I can watch it in one go.
Great make-up and ITA on Golden Girls (Sophia is my fav) and GoT (I watched S1+2 and lost interest)…
Yes I just can’t get into it. I find it very odd and depressing. Glad I’m not the only one!
Yay! Serena seems so cool. I can totally relate – Golden Girls for life! And I only watched a few episodes of GoT and had to stop because it was too much; I like harmless action. The hermit thing has also been happening to me. I only recently started doing other things again, and I loved rediscovering my more adventurous side. Time and place for everything.
Golden Girls is LIFE!
Yes, it is! I watch it every single day before I go to bed! Those four ladies are EVERYTHING!!!
The Golden Girls – yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I know. The show will never go out of style.
It’s still so funny, I love that show.
And Maude too.
Yes, I love that show.
I wish I could enjoy GoT but it’s too violent for me, I’m easily disturbed. Same with The Tudors.
I started to watch it but decided it wasn’t worth it when the incestuous couple tossed the young boy out the tower window. I guess the character survived but I didn’t think it was a very good show. Never got into Mad Men or Walking Dead or Breaking Bad either. The Golden Girls, however…great taste in shows, Serena!
That’s the exact point when I gave up on the first book. No thank you.
Totally agree. I didn’t continue watching any of these shows either.
If she hosted a live blog watching party I’d so be there.
Love Serena. Her styling here is awesome! Enjoyed seeing her in Beyonce’s video. Her dancing was a bit off for me (maybe because Im not accostumed to seeing her in “action” like that? lol) but didnt detract from overall outcome.
I agree with her about GoT.I couldn’t watch Walking Dead either.I don’t like violence,blood,gore etc.
I love Golden Girls.It’s weird how the oldest one,Betty White, is the only one who is still living.
I feel that simply there is more competition everywhere. In most lines of works it’s almost like if you don’t do your job and more there will be someone else willing to do that and take your place. Even the way many parents struggle to find a balance between work and family life always reminds me of that. It’s like people aren’t aloud an off button. So I imagine that in sports it’s that and more.
In my opinion the competition is only going to get worse. The world is more interconnected than ever, and people are hungry to come up. Corporations and the current business culture will keep on taking advantage of that if they keep on going unchecked.
Sadly, I agree:/
Totally agree. Even now the expectation is you go into work when you’re sick or work from home. After having a really bad infection I had a week off and needed to work half days for the next week – the doctor wanted me to stay off another week but I was worried about missing time. And once I was better I got called in for a verbal warning about absence! This was after hospital visits, doctor’s notes, so it was clear i wasn’t faking.
There just seems to be so much pressure on everyone these days. Everything has to be the ‘best’… somehow just ‘ok’ isn’t enough anymore.
I understand what you shared, I had digestive issues (my digestion would stop due to stress) and had to miss work and was warned that “I should avoid being sick”, these were the words.
Everybody is always battling with a deadline, a number they have to achieve (usually unrealistic) and similar mindsets as these. And even when you can’t because of something you can’t control the whole system makes you feel guilty:/
Many can’t even be aloud to have a fancy cellphone with internet because suddenly the are expected to answer emails in their off hours just because they must embrace the company or whatever they say these days.
And then some people are surprised for mental health issues being on the rise…
Ugh, I feel for you! I was just diagnosed with a carcinoma in my tongue and had to take almost a week off after surgery to recover. Thankfully, my employer is incredibly understanding about taking time off. However, I was still checking emails and taking calls when I wish I could have just rested. And coming back, my inbox was (and still is) a nightmare. I would be mega pissed if my employer was being a jerk about it on top of that! Caela and Miss S, I hope you are back to feeling healthy!
Ditto to what you said about mental health issues being on the rise. My blood pressure skyrocketed out of nowhere once I turned 30. Neither my parents nor siblings have high blood pressure and I don’t have any obvious risk factors for it, so the most logical explanation is that my job is so demanding. It’s a total shame the amount of energy people have to devote to their jobs to line someone else’s pockets. 🙁 Maybe as more milennials enter the workforce and baby boomers retire, it might get a little better?
It doesn’t just seem that way. It IS that way. It is burned into our brains at my workplace that 120% is expected. You either give your all every day or you will be replaced with someone who will and probably for less pay.
Our economy is better than it was five years ago, but there still aren’t enough jobs, so employers can pretty demand whatever they want.
Re sports, now that people from even third world countries can be brought to developed countries where they are trained and invested in, the competition is fierce.
@Sadezilla, I know what I’m talking about when speaking about mental health because I’ve felt it myself and have seen it in others. I’ve always been an anxious person but I had two jobs that totally broke me inside and I’m still trying to put the pieces back in their places again.
It a culture of disposable people, just like @JenniferJustice wrote, a lot of it it’s cold, insensitive and the few who seem to care, don’t, it’s just a facade, ’cause doing what’s right, humane or ethical always gets in the way of being productive or reaching the companies target whatever that is.
This is all soul crushing and in sports it must be a real nightmare.
The Golden Girls is one of the few shows I know will always make me laugh out loud when I find it in reruns. And I don’t watch GOT either!
I watched the series “The Streets of Comptom” and learned so much about Serena and Venus Williams’ childhood. Man, do I respect their father. He is really a wonderful man. He deserves more attention and praise than he gets, but alas, he is humble and quiet….more traits to admire.
His wife is two years older than his daughters, and he became a father again at 71. He’s got some issues that are off-brand for media consumption.
since she has no life (her words) except tennis i totally understand the golden girls love. it is a sit-com, ALWAYS on, and everything is wrapped up in under 30 minutes. no surprises or upsets.
i feel for her regarding tennis. she is a brand and has a team working to keep that brand rolling in money. she’s treated like a machine. sports aren’t sports anymore.
I don’t find violence, gore, dragons or zombies entertaining, either.
I dont like the violence and gore either, but for some reason I was so drawn to the “Spartacus” series. lol
Sorry, Kaiser, I’m with Serena when it comes to GoT. I don’t have HBO and tried to watch it when I was on a business trip. I felt like I was watching a foreign language show. I was completely lost.
Serena looks incredible as always, and I am with her and everyone else who can’t get into Game of Thrones. The glamourisation of rape violence to that level is just not my taste.
I love her, always had, always will. She’s a goddess.