Wonder Woman Serena Williams Aims To Stay On Top In Self September 2016

Olympian goddess Serena Williams is ready for gold, styled by Kate Sebbah in Rio-ready athletic looks. Mark Seliger flashes Serena for Self magazine's September 2016 issue. In her Howie Kahn interview, Serena reflects on what it takes to remain #1.

Williams has won an astounding 71 singles championships. She was the first African-American woman in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title—and has racked up a total of 22, officially tying Steffi Graf’s record with her July win at Wimbledon. She’s earned more than $77 million in prize money, the most ever for a female tennis player, and notched almost 1,000 career victories if you count her doubles triumphs, mostly with sister Venus. Williams will play for her fifth gold medal at the Rio Olympics in August. (“If I could grab one thing in a fire,” she says, “it would be my gold medals.”) In September she’ll turn 35. Well past the age of many of her competitors, she is the number-one-ranked women’s player in the world and has been, at press time, for the last 177 weeks. “It’s always been, like, bring it on—and more,” she says with a grin.

Every bit of this she’s accomplished while playing her game with a signature blend of intensity and earnestness: the fist pumping, the full-throttle grunting, occasionally breaking into splits. When she does it, she means it. In the past, Williams had been known to let her ego go unchecked, but now she dials up her game in a way that reflects a deep respect for her sport—and a vulnerability that most mega athletes are reluctant to display. Her days of yelling at line judges (as she famously did at the 2009 U.S. Open semifinals) may be over. “I’m a little more calm,” Williams says. “But at the same time, I’m even hungrier to win.”