All Hail the Goat: 5 Reasons Why We Love Serena Williams
Image: Serena Williams
Here at CNK, we’re all about giving flowers to the Black and Brown women in the sneakHER industry – those who paved the way and those who are coming up in the younger generations. We couldn’t let Black History Month 2023 go without highlighting one of our favorite women in sports, and the most decorated Tennis player of our lifetime. After her final tournament in August 2022 and describing her next chapter as “evolving (not retiring) away from tennis”, we love that she's enjoying life, motherhood, and still taking some fun sports gigs as she was in two Super Bowl commercials during the big game this month.
Serena Williams not only changed the game of Tennis, but she did it her own way and with grace. She was met with criticism from all areas, told she couldn’t wear certain outfits, and had been scrutinized for how she handled losses. However, none of it defeated her, and no one can go without saying that Serena Williams is the Greatest Tennis Player of All Time. So, here’s our love letter to The GOAT as we look back on all of the times we’ve given her flowers here at CNK, and our top five reasons we love Serena Williams.
We love her for…
Her Poise
Along with being called “The GOAT” we also call her Queen. We’ve always admired her poise and how she carries herself. Her growth from a small, black girl playing tennis with her sister Venus, has evolved into a real life Superwoman. Whether she’s at the top of her High’s in life and in her profession, or at a Low, she’s never been a mean girl towards her opponents, and handles it all with grace. We got a glimpse of Serena in all her glory as she and Virgil Abloh released their apparel collaboration respectively called “Queen”.
Her Style
Serena has always been known to have the most iconic Tennis outfits throughout her career, to the point where one Nike catsuit that was used to keep her blood flowing was banned. But of course being the Queen that she is, she responded to the banning of the outfit eloquently and respected the decision. However, Nike definitely had her back and had something to say about their design saying, “You can take the superhero out of her costume, but you can never take away her superpowers.” From the infamous beads with her braids, to tutus and neon skirts, Serena has made her own genre with style on the court.
Image: Serena Williams x Nike
Her Leadership
During her career, Serena has had a long-standing and positive relationship with Nike. We were especially excited to see them launch a six-month apprenticeship called the Serena Williams Design Crew (SWDC) – an initiative to change the design world and give 10 emerging designers the chance to create a collection fit for Serena herself. The first collection was revealed last year, full of fiery red and orange hues, Kente cloth inspired patterns, and throwback 90’s cuts. Serena also wanted to use this apprenticeship to show the world how important diversity is needed in the workplace.
Her Motherhood
In Serena’s farewell letter to Tennis with Vogue magazine, she expresses how her now five-year-old daughter, Olympia, wants to be a big sister, and the fact that she never wanted to choose between family and tennis. But now that she’s in her 40’s, she knows something has to give. She expresses going from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final, as well as playing while breastfeeding and through postpartum depression without a lot of people knowing what she was going through. But she still showed up and gave the game her all. As women, we don’t always receive grace to actually take a break, live our lives, or move on to other things. We admire what all she’s done in her career, but even more with how she’s handled motherhood so far. Being a mother is the hardest, most rewarding, job on Earth, and we know she’ll continue to be a beast at this part of her life as she continues to grow her family.
Her Legacy
Serena Williams has created a lane of her own, and has created the space and opportunity for other Black and Brown girls to be themselves on the court. They can wear what they want, they can be strong and beautiful, they can prove everyone wrong with grace, and can have their dreams come true along with living the life they want to live. To Serena, we will always give you your flowers for all you’ve done on and off the court, and your legacy will continue to live on forever.
“I’d like to think that thanks to me, women athletes can be themselves. They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all”