Tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams have been the target of cruel comments about their appearance for years, but the scrutiny reached an all-time high within the past week after Serena beat Garbine Muguruza and became a six-time Wimbledon champion. Critics began to call her muscular body type “manly.”
Venus spoke to Cosmopolitan about her own feelings regarding her athletic body and what is most important to her when it comes to how she wants her body to look.
When asked how she feels about her own body when considering that some view athletic shapes to be unattractive, the 22-time Grand Slam winner said, “I always thought of it like, ‘what can my body do for me?’ and not, ‘how do I look?’ ”
“I’ve always been happy with my body,” 35-year-old Venus continued. “Of course I want to look well and fit — and as an athlete, I want to look strong. I want my opponents to look at me across the net and just not want to play me because I look so fit and amazing and strong. So that’s always my goal.”
Athletic body types on women have become a hot topic ever since Serena began to be publicly attacked for her shape. Last weekend, a man on Twitter posted that Serena is only successful because she is “built like a man,” but acclaimed author J.K. Rowling famously set him straight with a snappy response.
Along with a stunning photo of Serena, Rowling responded, “she is built like a man.” Yeah, my husband looks just like this in a dress. You’re an idiot.”
The New York Times also joined in on the insults when the news outlet published an article about body image issues among female tennis players and mentioned Serena. “Her rivals could try to emulate her physique, but most of them choose not to,” the article read.
In the same article, Serena was cited as saying that just like her sister, she has grown to love and appreciate her athletic build.
“I don’t touch a weight, because I’m already super fit and super cut, and if I even look at weights, I get bigger,” she said. “For years I’ve only done Thera-Bands and things like that, because that’s kind of how I felt. But then I realized that you really have to learn to accept who you are and love who you are. I’m really happy with my body type, and I’m really proud of it. Obviously it works out for me. I talk about it all the time, how it was uncomfortable for someone like me to be in my body.”
