(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Now, playing at the height of her career once again in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2021, superstar Serena Williams will be chasing her record-breaking 24th Grand Slam. Yet, she’s doing it now as a married woman with children all while making a fashion statement. She’s once again defying all naysayers while wearing another catsuit. This time, it is even more eye-catching: an asymmetric, one-legged, graphic pink, red, and black color-block catsuit.
Williams says the style of this particular court catsuit was a homage to Florence Griffith Joyner, aka “Flo Jo”, the track star and three-time Olympic champion, who famously won her 1984 Olympic silver medal in a one-legged catsuit. Ms. Griffith Joyner also famously loved nail art and incorporating fashion into her running uniforms.
But don’t think for a second that this is just a mere fashion statement. If you remember back in 2018, she wore an all-black catsuit, and each time it was for her health.
“I had a lot of problems with my blood clots,” Williams said in 2018. “God, I don’t know how many I have had in the past 12 months. So there is definitely a little functionality to it. I have been wearing pants, in general, a lot when I play so I can keep the blood circulation going. It’s a fun suit, but it’s also functional so I can be able to play without any problems.”
If you remember, Williams has a history of blood clots. Back in 2011, she spent nearly 12 months incapacitated by a cut to her foot, and in July of that year, she had a pulmonary embolism. She revealed that the clot in her lung had been a life-threatening condition. “I was on my death bed at one point – quite literally. I’ve had a serious illness, but at first, I didn’t appreciate that,” she said.
One of the more recently publicized blood clots was when she started to have trouble breathing while recovering from her C-section in 2017. She thought she was having another blood clot, and told the medical staff she needed a CT scan and treatment for blood clots. Her doctors initially did not honor her request, and instead performed an ultrasound on her legs, Serena Williams told Vogue. But eventually, they did give her a CT scan, which indeed showed that she had several blood clots in her lungs, known as pulmonary embolisms, according to Vogue.
(Photo credit: Associated Press/WP)
Williams was put on a life-saving blood-thinner medication, but this had the side effect of preventing her surgical C-section wound from healing properly.
Her surgical wound reopened, and doctors performed another surgery in which they found a hematoma, or a mass of clotted blood, in her abdomen. She needed another operation to insert a filter into a major vein to prevent more clots, Vogue said.
Compression stockings or outfits like Serena’s catsuits are specially designed to apply pressure to your lower legs, helping…
… to maintain blood flow and reduce discomfort and swelling. They may be prescribed by your doctor for conditions that cause poor blood flow in your legs.
They help to slow the progression of vein disease and promote a stronger circulatory system by supporting weak or wavy (also known as incompetent) veins and valves and accelerating blood flow back to the heart.
“It feels like this suit represents all the women that have been through a lot mentally, physically, with their body to come back and have confidence and to believe in themselves,” Williams said after beating Pliskova. “I definitely feel like it is an opportunity for me to inspire a whole different group of amazing women and kids.”
But this isn’t the only health issue Serena has to overcome before stepping onto the court.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champ experienced headaches as a child but didn’t realize that they were migraines until she was in her 20s. Playing in the intense sunlight became particularly painful. Williams told People magazine that she was reluctant to tell her father (her coach at the time), about the headaches she was experiencing.
“Migraine isn’t a knee injury — it’s something you can’t physically see,” she said. “You can’t really say, ‘Oh, Dad, I have a migraine. I’m going to stop playing.’ People are like, ‘I don’t see swelling. I don’t see bruising. Tough it out.’ I got used to playing through the pain.”
Fortunately, Serena Williams’ migraine attacks were infrequent enough that she was, for the most part, able to deal with them. Fast forward to this year and the pandemic quarantine. Williams said that being at home with husband Alexis Ohanian and their almost 3-year-old daughter Olympia was “incredibly stressful” and triggered migraines nearly every day.
She spoke to her doctor, who prescribed ubrogepant (Ubrelvy). She says it worked so well that she signed up to be a spokesperson for the medication.
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