BY: Denver Sean
Published 10 years ago
Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams bare all for this year’s Body Issue for ESPN The Magazine.
Not only has Venus stripped down, but she also reveals new details surrounding her ongoing battle with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that, according to the Sjogren’s Syndrome Foundation, causes white blood cells to attack a person’s moisture-producing glands.
She tells the mag:
“At my worst point, I wasn’t able to play tennis at all,” says Williams. “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.”
The illness forced Venus to stop playing for over 6 months in 2011-2012, but she managed to work her way back to the top.
“Because of Sjogren’s syndrome, I have to be careful,” she says. “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.”
Watch what else she had to say below. Also, check out a super hot pic of Wimbledon quarter-finalist Tomas Berdych posing for the mag as well.
ESPN The Magazine‘s sixth annual Body Issue is on newsstands July 11.
A complete list of athletes to be featured in this year’s edition will be announced Wednesday on ESPN.com.
