Venus Williams won the Wimbledon Championship five times, has four Olympic gold medals, and is a nine-time Grand Slam winner. Now, at the age of 34, Venus is adding something new to her list of achievements.
It was announced on Monday that she has agreed to an offer to
pose nude in this year’s
Body Issue of
ESPN The Magazine. This is the first time that she has been willing to expose all her body, but as the video clip shows, she has nothing to be ashamed of!
Venus also decided to open up about her medical problem, and explained about her ongoing fight against the condition called Sjögren’s syndrome. This is an autoimmune disorder that, according to the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation, causes white blood cells to attack a person’s moisture-producing glands.
Williams said that it got so bad that at her worst point she could no longer play tennis at all. She added, “Just the whole quality of my life was compromised. You are so tired it hurts. You have to accept that you’re never going to be 100 percent.”
During the 2011 – 2012 seasons,
Venus Williams was forced to stop playing for more than six months, which obviously affected her position in the rankings. She explained how she was able to work her way back up. She said:
“Because of Sjogren’s syndrome, I have to be careful. If I train too hard, then I won’t be able to do anything the next day. There would be times when I’d park my car at home and I fell asleep behind the wheel because I was so tired. It’s a balance between pushing myself as much as I can and being reasonable about what I can achieve and what my body will tolerate.”
The very intimate interview, and equally intimate photos, are being published five years after her younger sister,
Serena, graced the front cover of
The Body Issue.
Venus Williams
first competed in Wimbledon in 1997, and this year she is back again. But no-one seeing the results of her nude photoshoot will ever look at her the same way again!
We are used to seeing her sister Serena Williams in skimpy outfits and bikini's..This time, Venus stripped down ,displaying her sexy body for ESPN magazine Body Issue..This is coming five years after Serena went nude for the magazine.
Serena also went nude for the 2009 issueBody Issue..This is coming five years after Serena went nude for the magazine..
Also naked is Last year's Wimbledon quarter-finalist Tomas Berdych.
Benjamin Ekpenyong
