21 time grand slam tennis champ, Serena Williams is giving us chocolate bikini body goals as she covers the September issue of Self Magazine. In it Serena lets the body shamers who keep calling her a man that she loves her body and is not changing it for nothing or no one. Back in 2014, the president of the Russian Tennis Federation referred to Venus & Serena as the Williams brothers. And over the years many have made fun of her for her thick and muscular appearance.
Williams’s take on the haters?
I love my body, and I would never change anything about it. I’m not asking you to like my body. I’m just asking you to let me be me. Because I’m going to influence a girl who does look like me, and I want her to feel good about herself.Serena we LOVE your body joooo!
She also tells us about her 5 year plan. Read and see more photos after the jump.
Speaking on women empowerment
I have this platform that other people don’t have, I think it’s important, especially as a woman, to stand up for who you are and what you believe in—and not back down.Featuring in Beyonce’s Sorry video,
I was nervous. But Beyoncé was impressed. I was like, ‘Well, you told me to dance like no one was looking!’?
Being an African American woman in a predominantly white sport
I can’t say I am the pioneer because it was Althea Gibson, it was Zina Garrison, it was Arthur Ashe, it was so many people before me. I appreciate being in a position where I was chosen to be a role model. Obviously, being black in tennis wasn’t easy, even in the ’90s.Where she will be in five years
In five years, I’m on a boat or an island, sketching the latest collection. Maybe there’s a baby, maybe a couple, we’ll see. I’m done traveling—I’m throwing away my passport. Yeah, I’m done with it.
