"I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t Venus, so thank you, Venus. She’s the only reason Serena Williams ever existed,” Serena declared in her final US Open interview.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion could have chosen to focus on her numerous accolades, but instead turned the spotlight on her older sister, Venus Williams. It comes as no surprise that Venus was chosen to be the coverstar for the October issue of Britain's GLAMOUR Magazine, with the former World No.1 already a household name in the fashion industry.
The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion spoke with GLAMOUR in an exclusive interview, and elaborated on how her individual style impacted both the fashion industry and tennis world.
“At the time, I didn’t know that I was different and now I realize how very different I was,” recalled Venus. “But difference is what makes the world beautiful – and I think people really can see that now, in terms of what Serena and I have accomplished in the sport, and how it’s elevated tennis, sport or even the world. So different is the only way to go.”
Venus was the first to bring a new aesthetic to tennis with her now-iconic beaded braids, triggering copycat requests to aunties and braid salons everywhere.
“People didn’t necessarily know my culture. So, when people saw we were wearing braids and beads, they may have thought it was unique," said Williams. "But people from my own culture would’ve realized, ‘Oh, wow, this is something that young girls do.’
"So, I feel like I’m still educating people about my culture, one at a time; like, this is normal to African-Americans, or people of African descent or with ethnic hair. We often do wear braids and beads, which have very deep meanings from their origins. It’s important for people to know about the cultures of the world.”
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.