Venus Williams' mid-match coffee order led to an awkward ball boy moment
Tennis super star and one half of the Williams sisters— Venus Williams a few years ago came out and shared her Sjögren's Syndrome diagnosis with the world.
The autoimmune disorder Venus Williams has lived and played with is similar to rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. But despite living with the disease, Williams plays just as hard as she did before and occasionally needs a pick me up like we all do in the mornings.
While playing her second round match against Elina Svitolina, williams ordered a cup from her team in the stands.
At these big tennis championships, everyone knows the most under-recognised hard workers are the ball boys and girls of the tournament. In a cute moment that has since gone viral, the ball boy at the US Open awkwardly tried to make the said coffee delivery... albeit unsuccessfully.
“Coffee delivery for Ms. Williams...
...........Ms. Williams?”
@Venuseswilliams | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/M3gmy1rDra— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 28, 2019
Obviously Twitter had a field day with the clip of the boy running around with the cup of coffee in his hand.
Venus Williams is the only athlete I know who orders a coffee in the middle of a match, and it's so relatable https://t.co/Dh3M0NGFtw— Evan Sterling (@Ester__Island) August 28, 2019
Watching a ball kid eagerly (and unsuccessfully) chase Venus Williams around with a cup of coffee really made my day— D'Arcy Maine (@darcymaine_espn) August 28, 2019
One of the effects of her illness is that it makes her sluggish and tired. Speaking to Prevention.com, Williams has openly described her struggle with getting the right diagnosis for her disease that first started showing signs 15 years ago in 2004, when she experienced symptoms like fatigue and shortness of breath.
“No matter how hard I worked, I was exhausted, short of breath, and never felt in shape. It was really frustrating,” Williams told Prevention.com. "My symptoms got progressively worse, to the point where I couldn’t play professional tennis anymore."
It was only in 2011 that Williams finally knew what was going on with her body.
“Unfortunately, that’s typical of people with autoimmune disease,” she said. “They're misdiagnosed or too sick to function. I literally had professional tennis taken away from me before I got the right diagnosis."
But don't worry, her coffee intake is perfectly legal since it was struck off the list of prohibited items by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Sometimes even tennis stars just need a pick me up.
