The docu-movie Venus and Serena (2012), explores the lives of the WTA legends Venus and Serena Williams. As the story spans their father Richard Williams’ childhood, it stretches to his tough coaching and the success of his daughters. While Serena and Venus both conquered the court for years, Serena emerged as the greatest WTA player in the Open Era with 23 Grand Slams under her belt. However, her success wasn’t straightforward. For years, Serena’s game struggled with a medical condition that made her body susceptible to forming blood clots. As the movie explores, the toughest blow came in 2011 when she had her first pulmonary embolism.

In 2011, facing one of the greatest challenges that threatened her life, Serena was trying hard every day to keep up with her body. As time passed, she seemed to be getting worse, as she herself admitted on camera. A pulmonary embolism happens when a blood clot travels to the lungs and blocks blood flow. Talking about this experience, Serena says she felt that her lung is “dead”.

How blood clots left Serena Williams in gloomy distress

In the movie, Serena opened up about the pain of repeated medical procedures. “The worst part is pricking,” she said, referring to the daily shots she had to take to thin her blood. “One day, as my luck would have it, I hit a blood vessel, and it gave me this massive lump on my stomach that wouldn’t go in. It got bigger and bigger and it got really, really painful.”

Talking about how she felt during those painful days when she struggled to fit into her painful body, she said, “Part of my lung is dead. I was never going to get it back”. As she says it, her voice drops and the disappointment is palpable. Despite the pain and discomfort, Serena soldiered on, taking her antibiotics and doing everything she could to recover.

However, things only got worse from there. The lump on her stomach continued to grow, and eventually, she had to have surgery to remove it. A tube was inserted to keep draining it, and she had to endure this for 10 long days.

Read more: How Serena Williams Battled Through Potentially Fatal Blood Clots in Her Lungs During Birth of Daughter Olympia

“Day 10, I’d had enough,” Serena said. As an athlete at the top of her game, Serena was used to being in control of her body and her life. Suddenly, she was faced with a condition that was completely out of her control.

Despite everything she went through, Serena eventually returned to the tennis court and continued to dominate the sport for more than a decade until her retirement in 2022. Her story serves as an inspiration to anyone facing health issues or other challenges in their lives. It shows that with determination, perseverance, and a positive attitude, anything is possible.

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