In the September 2022 issue of Vogue magazine, Serena Williams announced that she would be retiring—well, evolving—from tennis. After 23 grand slams, countless endorsements, and more magazine covers than I can count, the greatest tennis player of our generation is ready to call it quits... Sort of.

When I look back at her coming of age in the limelight, I realize that Serena took so many insults and naive statements to the chin so that I wouldn’t have to. It seemed that with every blow the media sent her way, she would only come back bigger, better, and wearing an even flyer outfit. Her display of unapologetic Black beauty before the world sacrificially made space for my own.

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