As Venus Williams warms up for her 25th Wimbledon, she tells Rebecca Lowthorpe about fashion, failure
– and why she’s ready to dial down her discipline
At the top of the Met Gala steps last month, Venus Williams stood next to Anna Wintour and greeted fashion’s most powerful, one guest at a time. For two hours she received them – air kissing, shaking hands, relishing every outfit. She wore Swarovski crystal, her gown a mirror of her own portrait hanging in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. ‘It was beyond my dream,’ she says of co-chairing fashion’s most prestigious night. ‘I just didn’t imagine I would ever do that or even be asked. I never even thought to be considered. I felt lucky just to be there.’
Williams, who turned 46 last week, will compete in her 25th Wimbledon this month, playing doubles with sister Serena. She has seven Grand Slam titles, four Olympic gold medals behind her – and still she seems genuinely humbled by her own life.
PHOTOGRAPHS JAVIER BIOSCA
STYLING RUDY SIMBA BETTY
Published on 23rd June 2026
MAKE-UP: DANIEL KOLARIC AT THE WALL GROUP HAIR: CIARA COSTENOBLE AT OPUS BEAUTY NAILS: ROMANE MARTINI AT THE WALL GROUP TAILOR: LAURYN TROJAN SHOOT PRODUCER: ANNA DEWHURST PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANTS: RAFAEL ARTEAGA, THOMAS JARDIN FASHION ASSISTANTS: FRANCESCA POLERA, LIV BELLAMY
Editor-in-chief: HATTIE BRETT
creative director: carolyn roberts
Deputy editor: hanna woodsidE
Associate editor: Rebecca lowthorpe
Style Director: Molly HayloR
Since she arrived on the professional circuit aged 14 – a teenager from Compton – the athlete has broken every boundary the world has put in front of her. After Althea Gibson, she became the first Black woman to reach World No 1 in the Open era, transforming not just the sport (armed with a 129mph serve and baseline game that could dismantle anyone) but what generations of young Black girls believed was possible for them.
Among the head-spinning titles, five Wimbledon championships, an autoimmune diagnosis, fibroid surgery, 16 months off the tour and then – back. ‘I think yesterday I realised, crap I’m going to be 46. How am I still playing tennis?’ she says. ‘But the crazy thing is I have just as much power as I did before. The limits are only in our mind.’ Off court, meanwhile, Brand Venus has grown – an award-winning interiors firm, a best-selling book, a plant-based protein company and a podcast with her sister Serena. And since December, a husband – Italian actor Andrea Preti. Williams is, in other words, not winding down.
Left: Pink dress, £420, Miista; vest, £260, Paul Smith; bodysuit, £250, Wolford; necklaces (from top) £520, £520, £500 and £350, bracelet (top) £179, watch, £320, cuff, £230, purple ring, £138, and blue rings, £119 each, all Swarovski Right: Dress, £2,600, Jacquemus; top (just seen), £49, Intimissimi; shoes, £750, Manolo Blahnik; (left hand) cuff, £350, ring, £400 (right hand) ring, £250, all Swarovski shrug, stylist’s own
‘For me it’s all about going for my dreams on and off the court,’ she says. ‘But today I think less about hunger and more about being able to have the goal, have the dream, work hard, go through all the things and the failures that happen along the way, and actually get there.’ Warming to the subject of failure, Williams continues, ‘There was a stat about [Roger] Federer – he won something like 53% of the points he played. This man won over 20 majors and he won barely half the points. Failure is a huge part of success. It’s just about framing it – because otherwise it can take over. You see some players, very talented, whose past is their future and their prison.’ She pauses. ‘Everyone sees the win, but only you know the battle, the journey that happened behind the scenes.’ For Williams, that journey currently looks like this: two to three hours on court every day, an hour in the gym, physical therapy, stretching, warm up, cool down. ‘By the time you do all that, it’s basically all day.’ Has she ever thought about retiring? She looks up. ‘No.’
Which brings us, inevitably, to Serena. Her younger sister has just announced her return to professional tennis. What did Venus say to her when she heard? ‘Nothing,’ she says. ‘I always let her make her own decisions.’ She smiles. ‘Even when she stopped playing the first time, she was the best in the world. There is no doubt. And even now, she has the potential – and she does, if she wanted to. It’s about support – watching, waiting, seeing what happens and then just being her biggest cheerleader.’
What is remarkable about Venus is not just the love for her sister but the discipline of it – the careful conscious work of being a sibling to someone the whole world is watching. ‘No matter what you do, you have to leave the work behind at some point and be human. Separating those two has helped us understand where ambition lies and what it means.’ And the glue that holds them together through all of it? She doesn’t hesitate. ‘The people closest to you are the easiest to shut out or to get rough with. But those are the ones you can damage the most. So we’re always very careful about that, making sure home is always a place we can go to. Because out on the streets, it’s hard. The last thing you want is to come home and it’s hard too.’
It makes you wonder about all that she’s faced on and off court, not least sexism in her sport. Just this month, Paraguayan player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo was fined $65,000 at the French Open for saying his match should have been umpired by a man. ‘He probably shouldn’t have spoken after such an emotional match. Perhaps there’s a moment of learning there,’ she says with characteristic restraint. And then, with sympathy, ‘But I’m not a fan of any umpire. I don’t think any player really loves umpires – male or female. It’s just that you can’t let it go that far.’
She is saying all this having changed into her outfit for the evening – a sophisticated black two-piece with gold buttons – heading to her dinner. It strikes me how fully the fashion world has embraced her, and she it. ‘Fashion is the perfect way to express yourself. There’s no better way to say who you are than what you’re wearing.’
This year, Venus’s own relationship with fashion reached its logical conclusion when she took her place as co-chair of the Met Gala alongside Wintour. ‘Anna’s amazing, but she’s like a goddess, a queen. At all times you feel like, “OK, well, I’m probably not worthy of this conversation. Like, am I going to be blacklisted?” It’s cool to talk to someone of that stature. I feel like there’s so much I could learn. And she’s such a tennis fan.’ And her fellow co-chairs – Beyoncé, Zoë Kravitz, Nicole Kidman? ‘You become a fan and a kid all over again,’ she says. ‘Nicole was especially nice and enchanting. In private she’s extraordinary – sweet, smart, sharp and just very cool.’
EVERYONE SEES THE WIN. ONLY YOU KNOW THE BATTLE
venus williams
Dress, £5,617, and shoes, £1,729, both Givenchy by Sarah Burton; bodysuit, £185, Wolford; (left arm) bracelets £179 and £230, ring, £400, (right hand) ring, £250, all Swarovski
RISING
Bikini top, £48, Skims; necklace, £580, Swarovski
Dress, £1,995, bra, £275, and briefs, £125, all Simone Rocha;
ring, £89, bracelet, £69, and earrings, £69, all Pandora
Salmon swimsuit, £590, and mustard swimsuit, £500, both Eres; bikini top, £48, Skims; shoes, £450, Jude; necklace, £580,
bracelets (left arm, just seen, from top) £350 and £179, rings (right hand, from top) £139 and £220, all Swarovski
‘I HAVE JUST AS MUCH POWER AS I DID BEFORE’
Dress, £1,590, Stella McCartney; bodysuit, £210, Wolford; shoes, £280, Lacoste; (right arm) necklace (worn as bracelet), £580, pinky ring, £119, ring, £220, (left arm) necklace (worn as bracelet), £520, and ring, £220, all Swarovski
Read more in the latest issue of Grazia magazine
Finally, there is the matter of Preti. It is perhaps fitting that she met her husband at a Gucci show in 2024. Within a few months, she knew he was the one. The romance was a whirlwind – engaged within six months followed by two weddings – first on the Italian island of Ischia, then Palm Beach. He loves to cook. For a woman who has spent years on a strict autoimmune diet – vegetables, fish, eggs, fruit – she has decided enough is enough. ‘I’ve never wanted to let myself eat pasta,’ she says. ‘But this year I’ll have a chance to go to Italy more – and just eat the pasta.’
They also share, somewhat unexpectedly, a passion for escape rooms. ‘I was doing escape rooms on dates and every time I mentioned it the whole air went flat. Finally, I told him, “I go do escape rooms,” and he said, “You’re kidding. I love them!”’
She seems completely content. ‘Everything’s changing,’ she says. ‘But I feel good about myself. I don’t mind getting older, things changing, as long as I’m strong and healthy. If you take care of yourself, you’ll be happy with what you have. As long as I do that, I think I’ll be really happy. But if I don’t – I’m coming for myself.’
venus rising
RISING
VENUS
