“This is it, the end of a story that started in Compton, California, with a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis,” said Serena Williams in her retirement announcement in Vogue magazine. For nearly three decades, Williams has dominated and transformed the sport of tennis. Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, 14 major championships in doubles with her sister, Venus, and four Olympic gold medals. Considered by many to be the GOAT, or greatest of all time, Williams has been an inspiration to a generation of tennis players, and her career has had special resonance for Black women, on and off the court. We’ll talk about her legacy and we want to hear from you: What has Serena Williams meant to you?
Serena Williams’ Legacy, On and Off the Court
Serena Williams serves the ball during her National Bank Open tennis tournament second round match on August 10, 2022, at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Guests:
Gerry Marzaroti, journalist, New Yorker Magazine; author, "Seeing Serena"<br />
Cecil Harris, veteran sports reporter; host, podcast docuseries "All-American: Venus & Serena"; author, "Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution," and "Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams Sisters"
Suzette Hackney, deputy editor and national columnist, USA TODAY<br />
LZ Granderson, columnist, The Los Angeles Times; host, "Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson" podcast
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