Serena Williams Hits Back At Sexism While Showing Off Her Six-Pack After Being Labeled ‘Manly’

Serena Williams hits back at sexism in sports while showing off her six-pack in stunning cover shoot one month after being labeled 'manly' by online trolls

Added by Linda Hamilton on August 11, 2015.
Saved under Metro Sports, News
Tags: Serena Williams

Major muscles: Serena (pictured in 2011) showed off an even more defined six-pack in New York Magazine

With four Olympic gold medals, five Wimbledon championships, and 21 Grand Slam singles titles under her belt, there’s no disputing that Serena Williams is one tough cookie on the tennis courts. But for all her victories, the sportswoman still has to do battle with sexists who body-shame her and hold her to different standards than the boys.

Last month, a troll on Twitter suggested that Serena’s victory at this year’s Wimbledon was due to her masculine figure, writing on the social media site that she was ‘built like a man’.

Now, the 33-year old has told New York Magazine that it’s not just comments about her figure that are unfair she also faces a constant double-standard when it comes to on-the-court behavior.
Serena was raised in the rough city of Compton, California not because her family was poor, but because her middle-class father wanted her and her sisters to be tough.

And while that toughness has certainly been an advantage when it comes to playing the game, it’s also gotten her into some trouble.

Serena has been fined on several occasions for outbursts on the court, including a whopping $82,500 in 2009 after she screamed at a lineswoman who called her for a foot fault: ‘I swear to God, I’ll f***ing take this ball and shove it down your f***ing throat.’

But the tennis pro insists that it’s not necessarily her language or temper that are the real problems, but sexism as men who’ve had similar outbursts receive considerably less attention and criticism for them.

‘I just think it was weird,’ she said. ‘I just really thought that was strange. You have people who made a career out of yelling at line judges. And a woman does it, and it’s like a big problem. But you know, hey.’

While putting up with haters and critics has been ongoing through Serena’s impressive 13-year career, the 5’9″ champion athlete doesn’t like to dwell on the past.
She doesn’t even really like to reminisce to much about the good stuff, either, and admitted that she doesn’t keep her winnings out on display at home.

‘I have lots of trophies, and I’m just I’m not that person that needs to see all these trophies,’ said the star, who was styled for her New York Magazine shoot by Vogue editor Lawren Howell who has also worked with the likes of Emma Stone and Elle Fanning.

She went on: ‘I have some in my house here, some in my house there, some I don’t know what happened to ’em. I have my grand-slam trophies somewhere.’

Instead of focusing on what she has accomplished in the past, the busy pro is setting ‘herself up for a career after tennis’ which includes building a fashion empire.

In fact, Serena insists that initially, she wanted to be a wedding dress designer, and even took a few college-level design classes.

‘That was my first real love,’ she said, ‘but then I was like, Listen. I’m playing professional tennis. I’ll just do athleticwear.’

And she did. Serena’s line, Serena Williams Signature Statement, sells exclusively on HSN, and complements the fashionista-on-the-courts persona that she and her sister, Venus, cultivated.

‘We brought fashion back to tennis,’ she said, adding: ‘It was great when Chris Evert was around. Tracy Austin had some great designs. But the ’90s was not a good time.’