Speaking to reporters after her match versus Romanian Simona Halep in the Wimbledon final, Williams fielded an unexpected question:
"Serena, sorry, this is kind of a negative one, but there have been a few comments made in recent weeks from people such as Billie Jean-King, that maybe you should stop being a celebrity for a year, and stop fighting for equality, and just focus on the tennis. How do you respond to that?"
Serena hit back with the aptness of a tennis player:
"Well, the day I stop fighting for equality, and for people that look like you and me, will be the day I'm in my grave."
And people definitely want that engraved on their tombstone.
However tennis legend and fighter for both women's and LGBT equality, Billie Jean King tweeted, following the question, denying that she ever said Williams should "stop fighting for equality."
King's quote was:
"She's got a baby, she's trying to help gender equity, particularly women of color, she's actually on the Billie Jean
King leadership initiative; she and Venus are both advisors for it."
"I would like her to put everything else aside, because she's got people working on those things. I wish she would just make a commitment for the next year-and-a-half to two years and say, 'I'm going to absolutely focus on what's necessary for my tennis, so when I look in the mirror when I'm older then I can go back in my mind and know I gave it everything I had'."
But people agree Serena is doing exactly the right things.
Williams unfortunately suffered her third consecutive Grand Slam defeat in the Wimbledon final.
But that is no deterrent to her on her fight for equality.
She wrote in Fortunate Magazine in 2017:
"The cycles of poverty, discrimination, and sexism are much, much harder to break than the record for Grand Slam titles."
To learn more about Serena, in her own words, Williams released the book My Life: Queen of the Court, available here, in 2009.
The story of Serena and her sister Venus was chronicled for children in the new book Sisters and Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams, available here, and the book Sisters: Venus & Serena Williams, available here.
