Champion Of The Year

After a remarkable year, the world’s most indomitable athlete has a few things she’d like to share about that wild evening at the US Open, sure, but also about how she managed to triumph in the end by raising her voice

- Jeanne Marie Laskas

SHE HAS APPEARED, QUIETLY AND WITHOUT FANFARE, ON THE BACKYARD PATIO OF HER PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida, home, where I have been waiting with Chip, her tiny 5-year-old Yorkie. She slides her fantastic, superhuman body onto the white couch without so much as a sigh. ‘I’m struggling a little bit,’ she says, apologising for being late. ‘It’s a baby. You’re never on time with a baby.’ She’s in a pink top from her new independent clothing line, Serena, and she’s wearing grey sweats, no shoes. Really, the only remarkable thing is her makeup, fresh and glistening, full-on contoured cheeks, shiny lips, woolly lashes. It strikes me as the kind of effort you’d put into a photo shoot, or a press conference. She said she would do this thing, so she’s going to do it. It’s part of the job. A professional athlete today is supposed to provide thoughts after the big game, help make sense of the whole thing, put it all in cultural context – and let’s face it, that last one was loaded.