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Serena Williams shows fierce figure, talks long tennis career in stunning shoot

In a recent article with NY Mag, the tennis star is showing off her amazing body, as well as discussing her long tennis career, love of fashion and race.
/ Source: TODAY

Serena Williams is definitely at the top of her game — on and off the court.

The tennis star snagged the cover of New York Magazine's Fall Fashion issue, where she showed off her amazing, athletic body (and flexibility), and discussed her long tennis career, love of fashion and race.

See more photos of her beautiful, strong figure here and check out this behind-the-scenes pic from the photo shoot:

Williams is no stranger to being criticized about her athletic body. Just recently after her Wimbledon win, body shamers on social media felt the need to compare her form to that of man. Author J.K. Rowling spoke up and defended the tennis star on Twitter.

But Willams had plenty more to talk about in the interview. Here are five things we learned about the tennis star:

1. She's surprised she's still playing tennis.

"I didn't think it would last that long," Williams said in reference to her career. The 33-year-old athlete has been playing for 16 years and has had three grand slams in the past six months.

2. She doesn't display all of her trophies.

Williams said she's not someone who needs to see all of them. In fact, there are some she doesn't even know what happened to, including her grand-slam trophies.

3. Tennis was not her first love.

Designing wedding dresses was her "first real love," but then she realized she was playing professional tennis so she decided to do athletic wear.

4. She doesn't get the world's reaction to her '09 umpire incident.

Williams was fined $82,500 for her expletive-laden response to an umpire's call during a 2009 match. Discussing it now, the tennis star thinks the reaction to the incident was "weird" and "strange." "You have people who make a career out of yelling at line judges. And a woman does it, and it's like a big problem."

5. Williams doesn't feel the pressure of being a black female athlete.

When asked what it's like to bear the weight of representing people of color, women and 33-year-olds who want to believe in their athletic dominance, Williams said she doesn't think about it. "I don't dwell in the past. If I do, I'll be swallowed up by negativity."

Whatever you're doing, Serena Williams, it's working, because so far 2015 has been your grand slam in the tennis and fashion worlds.