Why Serena Williams Is The Hottest Athlete In The World Right Now

* Photo: Instagram

She is on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, she's the subject of the feature story in the New York Times Magazine and only a few weeks ago she sent the world crazy with those incredible photos from the New York Magazine. 

She's keeping the paparazzi happy too, snapped kissing Canadian rapper Drake at a schmick Italian restaurant in Cincinnati on Sunday. 

And for those who were not aware, Williams stands to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win a calendar Grand Slam when she takes to the court in the US Open next Monday. 

If successful, Williams will also equal Graf's tally of 22 grand slams - behind only Margaret Court's 24 in the Open era.  

Claudia Rankine's piece for the New York Times Magazine is a revealing insight into a woman, regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, who has been subjected to racism and taunted about her masculine physique for more than a decade. 

Williams' success as a tennis player is one thing, but the legacy she leaves is just as important to her. 

"We have to be thankful, and we also have to be positive about it so the next black person can be No. 1 on that list," Williams told the New York Times Magazine. "Maybe it was not meant to be me. Maybe it's meant to be the next person to be amazing, and I'm just opening the door.

"Zina Garrison, Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe and Venus opened so many doors for me. I'm just opening the next door for the next person." 

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/why-serena-williams-is-the-hottest-athlete-in-the-world-at-the-moment-20150825-gj7rsk.html#ixzz3juxNKhoa