How Serena Williams Has Stayed Engaged, Win After Win After Win

Story by ESPN
Written by Jane McManus

LONDON -- Serena Williams hates to work out. She's always hated it, but there's this thing called her "job," which has required her to be in shape. This year, in an attempt to mix up her workout routine, she started pole dancing, and by the time she won her sixth Wimbledon title, the secret was out.

You can only imagine how scintillating this detail is for a sport in which women can still be described as "leggy" on first reference. But Williams was cagey about the routine when asked exactly what kind of dancing she has incorporated into her workout.

"Contemporary," she said, and smiled, without opening the door too broadly.

At 33, Williams has figured out what she needs to stay engaged, and it isn't running on a treadmill. But it goes beyond the daily routine and the number of events she plays each year and the types of commitments she makes. Although far from ancient -- especially compared to the middle-aged reporters who ask about age -- Williams has become the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam title.

"I just keep reinventing myself in terms of working out, in terms of my game," Williams said. "It's been working."

It seems easy watching her now, which makes it easy to forget that just four years ago Williams was out after cutting her foot on glass after winning Wimbledon in 2010. She needed two surgeries on the injury and developed a blood clot that broke off and reached her lung. A pulmonary embolism can be fatal, and it requires a lengthy recovery.

Williams did an interview with USA Today in the middle of her recovery. "I've definitely had my share of hard times," she said.

It wasn't a given that she'd recover. Williams had 13 Grand Slam titles at that time and, if she had never played another point, would have been seen as an excellent player who had a fairly long run. Few would have suspected that she had so many championships waiting for her.

Now, Williams attributes her success as much to her breaks from tennis -- whether chosen or imposed -- as her hours on the practice court. The perspective that comes from a life-threatening experience has given her a new joy when it comes to the game, and she stokes that joy through constant reinvention. The natural ceiling for a tennis player means little in the face of her recent success.

"She's just unique -- so the rules don't apply to her," said Williams' coach, Patrick Mouratoglou.

Williams has never had as many miles on her legs as her contemporaries. Each season, Williams has faced women who played a career of junior tennis and a full slate of tournaments.

Williams, meanwhile, has limited her work. In 2014, she played 16 tournaments. Compare that to Angelique Kerber, who played 22 tournaments and three Fed Cup events.

"I feel almost better now," Williams said. "I mean, I do have some aches and pains, but overall physically, I feel like I'm better. I feel like I'm more fit. I feel like I can do more than I did 10, 12, whatever years ago."

The No. 1 player in the world has won Grand Slam championships in three separate decades, the first at the US Open in 1999. She will return there next month to vie for her 22nd major title and a calendar Grand Slam. The last time any woman did that was Steffi Graf in 1988.

This is history in the making, something that can be hard to appreciate fully at the moment it's happening.

"It's easy to say, 'but Serena's better than everyone, so this is normal.' This is not normal at all," Mouratoglou said. "She could have lost so many matches at Australia, at Roland Garros, at Wimbledon, and she every time found a way, but it's a tremendous effort, tremendous. That's why I feel sometimes people don't realize how incredible this is."

As long as Williams keeps reinventing herself, keeping workouts interesting and pacing herself, there is no reason to think she can't keep it up.

"I definitely don't feel old," Williams said. "I think in life I'm still pretty young. You know, I think, like I always say, with new technology, new workouts, all this other stuff, I think the life of an athlete is changing and the longevity is becoming longer."