In a one-hour interview that aired on ESPN on Sunday, 22-time major champion Serena Williams sat down with rapper and good friend Common, for a wide-ranging discussion touching on race, gender, her impact on both society and sport, and why she should always be in the conversation as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
“I think if I were a man, I would have been in that conversation a long, long time ago,” Serena said. “Like six, seven or eight years ago.”
“Any kind of man. White, black, it doesn’t matter. If I was a man it would have been a different conversation a long time ago. I think being a woman is a whole new set of problems from society that you have to deal with.”
Five more insightful moments from Serena’s wide-ranging interview:
On whether she ever felt misunderstood:
“I feel like in the beginning of this journey I was definitely misunderstood. You never saw anything like me or Venus in my field of work, in tennis. We may have said some things that people just couldn’t relate to.”
“Growing up and playing these tournaments when I was younger, I didn’t really see many people that were my color. I was black. So I think I just got used to it. So when you go to Russia or a lot of these countries, you just really stick out.
“But I like to stick out. One thing about me — I don’t want to be everyone else. If everyone is doing something I’m probably going to try it a different way. I just like to be different. I don’t like to fit a mold.”
On being taught to believe in herself:
“If I was playing the No.1 player and I was like ‘Yeah, I think I can be the best, I think can be better than her’ they were like ‘She’s so rude, she’s so disrespectful.’ I never meant anything in disrespect.
“My dad always taught me, if you want to do something you write it down, you believe it, you study it, and then you believe that it’s going to happen. So I believed that I was going to be No.1. I believed that I could be better than who was No.1 at that point.”
On becoming more of a vocal activist for black issues over recent years:
“I was at Wimbledon this year and someone got killed [back home in America] and I was just over it. I’m trying to play a semifinal and I turn on the news and look through social media and it hurts me because they’re my people who are being killed. They look like me. Who’s to say I’m not next? It hurts. It really hurts.”
On body image:
“There was a time where I didn’t feel incredibly comfortable about my body because I felt like I was too strong. But then I had to take a second and think ‘Well who says I’m too strong?’ This body has enabled me to be the greatest player I can be. I’m not going to scrutinize that! This is great! This is amazing! Now my body is in style so I’m feeling good about it. I’m finally in style! Took a while to get there.”
On her legacy:
“We literally took the globe and shook it, me and Venus because we came from Compton, we came from nothing. In tennis you have to have something. We came and we conquered. And I shouldn’t have to apologize for saying and believing that I can be the best.”
Watch the entire interview at The Undefeated.
Serena is set to kick off her 2017 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, which begins on January 2nd.
