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5 Reasons Why Serena Williams Should Be Your Fitness Icon

All hail Queen Serena!

She has seven Wimbledon titles, 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals and, at 36 years old, she still has the fastest serve in the women's game – but Serena Williams' excellence goes far beyond the trophies and the stats. She is a force to be reckoned with, exuding grace and power, a true queen of the court – absorbing negativity and transforming it into positive, title-winning energy. Oh, and she's friends with Beyonce. The woman is too much! Here's why you need to bow down to Serena Williams for all eternity:

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1. She's the GOAT

Greatest. Of. All. Time. Did we already mention the 23 Grand Slam titles? She won her first title at 17 and reached her tenth Wimbledon final at the age of 36 – having given birth to her first child just 10 months previously. Okay, so she didn't get her fairytale return to the game – the record-equaling 24th Grand Slam title evaded her – losing out to Angelique Kerber. But give her time. Imagine what this woman can do when she has a full session of pre-season training, uninterrupted by the small matter of giving birth to a human.

2. She twirls on her haters

Serena has faced an onslaught of racism, misogynoir and body shaming throughout her entire career. Her powerful physique is called 'manly', she's ridiculed for her muscular arms, she's had monkey noises made at her during matches. There is a conscious and constant campaign to dehumanise her and strip away her femininity in order to undermine her success. For many this would be enough to call it a day, to shy away from public life – not Serena. She calls out racism and sexism for what it is, refuses to be cowed by her haters and speaks out to encourage other women to push back against this kind of nonsense.

3. She is mumspiration

Ten months ago, Serena gave birth to her unbelievably adorable daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr (seriously – have a look at her Instagram pics, she's too cute for words). And it wasn't a simple birth – the former world number one faced severe complications and almost died when she was rushed into an emergency caesarean. Left bedridden for weeks, she could barely walk to the bathroom, let alone pick up a tennis racket, but less than a year later she made it to the Wimbledon final. Just take a moment to let that sink in. Super-mum doesn't even cut it. She dedicated her Wimbledon final to all the working mums out there and is continuing to prove that motherhood doesn't have to stop you from achieving your dreams.

4. That technique though

Serena's technique on the tennis court is a beautiful thing to behold. The way she uses her body – coupling explosive power with agile reactions and meticulous accuracy – is the key to her 20-year dominance of the game. And you absolutely don't want to be on the end of one of her serves. It's not just her power that makes her service so deadly, the precision of Serena's serve makes her three times more likely to hit an ace than any other professional female player.

5. She's all about the fun

She's all business when it comes to winning titles, but Serena doesn't take herself too seriously off the court. Whether she's dancing on her Instagram stories, twerking in Beyonce's music video or living her best life at a club night in LA, Serena radiates joie de vivre and you can just tell she loves her life. This positive queen teaches us that we can be silly, fun and carefree while still getting results when it matters.

'Words by Natalie Morris'

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