There’s big news in sports this week: Serena Williams is officially back playing professional tennis. winning a straight-sets doubles match with her partner, Canadian Victoria Mboko, over the 3rd seeded pair in the Queen’s grass court tournament in London. Mboko was unfortunately injured during the tournament, having to withdraw from further play for the time being. Williams plans to play with a different partner in the Berlin open next week.
Not sports news, but nonetheless reported by the NY Times and other venues: Serena Williams has been taking Zepbound, a GLP-1/GIP weight-loss drug for weight loss.
Here’s an excerpt from this NY Times article:
Williams, 44, said that she made the decision after trying just about every other avenue. She had not wanted to take “the shortcut,” she said on Oprah Winfrey’s podcast last August, but, Williams said, getting to where she wanted to be after her two pregnancies was not working through training alone.
“I couldn’t beat the weight. It was the one opponent I couldn’t beat,” Williams, who manages her treatment through Ro, a telehealth company for which she serves as a paid ambassador, said.
And oh, do the commenters have comments! But first, some facts:
- Serena is one of the greatest athletes of all time, having won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, two Serena slams, 367 match wins, and lots more here.
- We FIFI bloggers love writing about Serena, including here and here and here and here.
- Serena has had two babies and is 44 years old, which means that biology wants her to weigh more now. Biology is very persuasive with bodies.
- Exercise, even intense athletic training (especially for women), doesn’t bring about weight loss. Studies have shown this, and you can read about them here, here and here.
- Commentators, including both professionals and randos, never miss an opportunity to offer opinions on Serena’s body size, shape, age, clothing, work, parenting, you name it.
- Serena is taking a GLP-1 drug– Zepbound, which is tirzepatide, for weight loss.
- She is a paid ambassador to a telehealth company (Ro) that sells Zepbound, and her husband is an investor in the company.
Now, to the comments. But– humor me–one more little thing:
Why, oh why, do so many people have so many utterly unfounded, unsolicited and unwelcome opinions about Serena Williams? I mean, really. For example: In a 2019 poll, one in eight UK men said they thought they could take a point off her in a tennis match. This was after her 23rd Grand Slam win. I’d love to watch them try. If you doubt at all, check this out.
Okay, now to the NYT commenters’ comments. They include a wide range, of which some are below.
- They minded that Serena’s doubles partner wasn’t mentioned enough.
- They implied that by playing doubles, Serena wasn’t really back; after all, she only had to cover half the court.
- They implied that taking a GLP-1 drug is like doping.
- They said confused and false things (some wildly wrong) about the effects of GLP-1 drugs on muscle mass (fact: weight loss of any sort tends to reduce muscle mass)
They also said Serena was:
- Self-prescribing (NO)
- Offering medical advice (NO)
- Doping in general (offering no evidence that she has and there is NO evidence that she has)
- Doping because GLP-1s are performance-enhancing drugs (NONONONONO—I will be blogging more about this next week)
Then there were the science-splainers. This one was my favorite:
“it’s[GLP-1 effects] a consequence of how your body prioritizes what to break down for energy. This is governed by individual biology..”
NO. DEFINITELY NOT. SO NOT.
This one just made me mad:
I don’t understand the argument that she couldn’t beat her weight issues. I remember a time, way before GLPs when people lost weight the good old fashioned way I.e eating less, working out and staying active. When Serena, who during her prime years was one of the fittest and most athletic tennis players of all time, now says the only thing she couldn’t beat was her weight, this leaves me scratching my head.
DO YOU NOW? Because there was NO TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY in which many/most people lost weight the old-fashioned way and kept it off. Also, Serena is a woman who has had two children, one while still playing world-caliber professional tennis. And she is now 44. Which brings me back to the biology fact from the first fact list.
If you admire or love or respect Serena Williams even a fraction of the amount I do, you’ll now be on your guard against this newest pile of anti-science-and racist-misogynist nonsense. But I can’t leave you all riled up with nowhere to go.
I leave y’all with my favorite auto-correct comment:
what a terrible message to send to youth antlers.
Yes, let’s all be on our guard to protect those youth-antlers from GLP-1s in the wild.
Until next week, I remain irately yours,
-catherine
