Serena Williams just rocked a bold swimsuit, proving she can serve aces both on and off the court—this time with a little help from a weight-loss medication.
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The 43-year-old tennis icon turned heads in a sizzling yellow one-piece, striking playful yet stunning poses on Thursday.
“melanin mellow-yellow,” Williams wrote alongside the post.
Of course, the beloved tennis champion’s fans rushed to the comments section to lavish praise on her trim figure.
“Wow, beautiful Serena,” one onlooker wrote. “Retirement is looking great on you, Champ,” a second fan added. “Congratulations on the success you had with your weight loss program!!” a third fan chimed in.
However, not everyone was feeling the love after revealed yesterday to PEOPLE that she was using a GLP-1 prescription to help shed the pounds.
“I’m a fan of yours for a very long time. But today I am a little disappointed. You always said, ‘Strong is beautiful.’ So it isn’t anymore? GPLs make you beautiful now?” one top comment read. “I’m confused, I thought her body type was accepted as normal before this,” another onlooker wondered as praise rolled in for her new slim look.
That said, others appreciated the superstar’s honesty during her weight loss journey.
“Thanks for the transparency. We love you,” one fan wrote.
Serena Williams Feels “Light Physically and Light Mentally” Following Her Weight Loss
“I feel great,” Williams gushed to PEOPLE Thursday. “I feel really good and healthy and light physically and light mentally.”
Williams revealed she struggled with her weight after giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia, in September 2017.
“I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be, no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion told the outlet. “It was crazy because I’d never been in a place like that in my life where I worked so hard, ate so healthy, and could never get down to where I needed to be at.”
“I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best,” Williams added. “So it was very frustrating to do all the same things and never be able to change that number on the scale or the way my body looked.”
She shared that after giving birth to her second daughter, Adira River, in August 2023, she experienced weight challenges. Williams said she lost much of the pregnancy weight in two weeks but “never lost another pound.”
“I just thought, ‘Gosh, I don’t know if I would ever be able to get back to where I needed to get to.’”
Williams researched GLP-1 weight-loss drugs despite controversy and her initial skepticism about pursuing a healthier lifestyle.
“I did a lot of research on it. I was like, ‘Is this a shortcut? What are the benefits? What are not the benefits?’ I really wanted to dive into it before I just did it,” she recalled
Serena Williams started weekly injections of the weight-loss medication Ro in early 2024, about six months after Adira was born and after she stopped breastfeeding.
“I lost over 31 pounds using my GLP-1, and I was really excited about that weight loss,” she revealed.
“I just can do more. I’m more active. My joints don’t hurt as much. I just feel like something as simple as just getting down is a lot easier for me. And I do it a lot faster,” she added. “I feel like I have a lot of energy, and it’s great. I just feel pretty good about it.”