Venus Williams to Speak at Today’s Opening Session

With seven Grand Slam titles, five Wimbledon championships, four Olympic gold medals, two successful companies, and a couple of bestselling books under her belt, tennis champion Venus Williams is one of the most accomplished women in the history of sports.

Williams will be sharing her unique and inspiring story—as well as her take on how to maintain one’s mental health in the face of it all—during a fireside chat with APA President Ramaswamy Viswanathan, M.D., Dr. Med.Sc., at today's Opening Session of the 2025 APA Annual Meeting from 10:30 a.m. - Noon.

At just 10 years old, Williams was already hitting serves at more than 100 mph. Despite being undefeated on the amateur circuit, her parents made the decision to pull her and her sister Serena out of juniors’ competition to focus on their education. Williams has said this break from the pressure and the limelight allowed her to develop her game and nurture her lifelong love of the sport, which she still plays professionally to this day.

Williams is one of the top female tennis earners of all time. But at her first match after turning pro at age 14, Williams’s mother advised the athlete of the importance of taking care of her “whole self,” and tending to her mental health, Williams wrote in a guest article for The New York Times in 2021. To that end, the tennis prodigy has made a point of staying connected to her religion, pursuing her entrepreneurial and artistic passions, and—as she wrote in the Times—“enjoying the experience of improvement” throughout her career.

Williams remains an outspoken advocate for the importance of mental health. “All of us face mental health challenges resulting from the inevitable setbacks and uncertainties of life,” Williams wrote in the Times. “We also live in a culture that glorifies being a workaholic, where the risks of burnout are often ignored, and where, let’s face it, whether you’re on or off the court, winning is everything.”

Williams partnered with the therapy service BetterHelp and the Women’s Tennis Association in 2021 to provide one month of free therapy to anyone who chose to sign up. She also uses her platform to work to remove the stigma that has been attached to mental illness.

Williams has had her own share of setbacks: In 2011 she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease. The accompanying joint pain, fatigue, and numbness forced her to withdraw from that year’s U.S. Open and stop playing tennis for a time to focus on recovery.

Williams learned to overcome that obstacle, as she detailed in her 2024 book, “Strive: Eight Steps to Find Your Awesome.” On and off the court, Williams says she gives it her all. When it comes to dealing with setbacks and resilience, she has this mantra, which she recently shared on her YouTube channel: “Think about the things you can accomplish instead of what you can’t accomplish.” ■