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Marriage and kids: I am not desperate declares Venus Williams

 

Those mounting pressure on seven Grand Slam Champion Venus Williams over marriage and having kids, have been told to channel their effort elsewhere as their hit won’t light a candle.

Venus  has a long list of accomplishments  on top of her nearly three-decade-long tennis career, she holds two degrees that she’s earned on the side and has launched three companies along the way. But at 41, the athlete is still facing pressure to settle down in a more traditional way, with a significant other and children of her own  something that she’s in no rush to do.

“I have a lot of friends who don’t believe me when I say that I like my life and I don’t want to change it for any reason. I’m not desperate and they don’t believe me,” she tells Cosmopolitan for the magazine’s October cover. “They say things like, ‘You’re going to miss your window.’ I’m like, ‘Please, relax. You might feel this way, but I don’t. I promise you I don’t.'”

Venus: No need to hit the system

The elder of the superstar tennis duo has been in the spotlight since she started her professional career at just 14 years old. Throughout that time, she’s faced challenges when it comes to sticking to her conviction and paving her own path.

“I didn’t see myself as different,” Venus says of her debut in the public arena, although those around her warned that as a Black female player in a traditionally white sport, she certainly was. “I saw myself as a great player.”

“As you grow up and mature, you realize you don’t have to be in any situation you find disrespectful. You can let people know what you find disrespectful,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be yelling or screaming. I’m not a combative person. I’m never going to let any situation change that, because I want to look back and know that I stayed true to who I am. So come. Come for me if you want to, but you won’t come again.”

READ ALSO Venus Williams rumored to be dating fellow tennis star Reilly Opelka

This has come through in a few of Venus’s post-match interviews. Most notably, one at the 2021 French Open where she shared her approach to media after Naomi Osaka withdrew as a result of turning down press obligations. “I know every single person asking me a question can’t play as well as I can and never will,” Venus said. “No matter what you say or what you write, you’ll never light a candle to me.”

 

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