Tennis grand slammer Serena Williams showed up on Sunday night at the Wimbledon champions' dinner in a peach sleeveless gown. Appearing in a very feminine attire was a sharp contrast for the Williams whom tennis fans are used to seeing her in more athletic get-ups. The floor-length gown had an embellished and mesh top and a silk train, reports People.
She posted on Monday the photo of her wearing the gown on her Instagram account and another photo with the male champ, Serbian Novak Djokovic.
As the world's most dominant athlete, 33-year-old Williams reached her revered status in tennis because of her athletic physique which a body-shamer described as "built like a man." The comment got the ire of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rawlings who came to the defense of Williams.
The author tweeted ahead of the Wimbledon final match on Saturday against 21-year-old Garbine Muguruza of Spain that Williams is a super talented person who is very nice. She then calls the commenter with the handle @diegtristan8 an idiot and included in her tweet a photo of the Wimbledon female champion wearing a fitted red dress and Loubotin high heels.
Described by a July 10 New York Times article as possessing "large biceps and a mold-breaking muscular frame," Williams admits also having struggled with "societal norms," reports The Washington Post. To avert the public's eye from her strong and muscular limbs, she wore clothes that cover her arms, serving as a cover from recognition.
She also didn't touch weights which she felt would even make her bigger, limiting the holder of 21 Grand Slam titles to Thera-Bands and similar fitness devices for years. It was only after she learned to accept and love her body type that she became happy and proud of it.
Her Saturday victory was Williams's fourth consecutive Grand Slam tournaments after victories in the U.S. Open, the Australian Open and French Open.