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The queen of the tennis court Serena Williams made her highly anticipated return to singles competition at Wimbledon 2026 on June 30 after retiring back in 2022 to focus on her family and business ventures. But for her comeback, she showed off a more meager physique than fans are accustomed to seeing on the powerhouse athlete.

In recent years, the mother of two has opened up about her weight loss journey, which she attributes in part to the use of GLP1 drugs. Now, after a year of taking weight loss medication and declaring that she’s in her healthiest condition ever, Williams finally revealed that she used Zepbound, not Ozempic as many people presumed, according to NBC News.

“Sometimes, no matter what you do, no matter how many steps you take, how many miles you run, you just can’t get over that hump. I know that for a fact,” Williams told NBC News. “As a woman, as I age, I definitely couldn’t get over that hump.”

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More Than Just Weight LossSerena Williams during her match against Maya Joint of Australia in the first round of the Ladies’ Singles Competition at Wimbledon on June 30, 2026, in London, England. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty Images)

The 44-year-old Compton native revealed that she is “taking a GLP-1 receptor agonist, a widely popular class of drugs,” per NBC News. “At the same time, she announced a partnership with the company Ro, which prescribes GLP-1 medications through telehealth.”

However, Tennis.com reported that Williams is taking Zepbound, telling the site, “Some of my health stats are even better than they were when I was playing tennis professionally, if you can imagine that!”

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is also featured on Ro’s website, which writes: “After kids, she was doing everything right but nothing worked. Ro finally helped her get back to her strongest self,” continuing, “After losing weight with another GLP-1 provider, Serena chose Ro to continue her weight loss journey. She has used both branded vials and pens.”

A Different Kind Of Mommy MakeoverSerena Williams is seen, with her daughter Olympia Ohanian, at the Miami Open on March 29, 2024, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL. (Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

In August 2025, Williams told People that her weight struggle started after giving birth to her oldest daughter, 8-year-old Olympia in 2017. “I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,” she told the publication. “It was crazy because I’d never been in a place like that in my life where I worked so hard, ate so healthy and could never get down to where I needed to be at.”

She also spoke candidly about how demoralized she felt as a top-notch athlete not being able to drop the baby weight: “I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best. So it was very frustrating to do all the same things and never be able to change that number on the scale or the way my body looked.”

In addition to her impressive weight loss, Williams, who welcomed her youngest daughter 2-year-old Adira in August 2023, with husband Alexis Ohanian, also gushed to People about the other benefits she experienced from using the weight loss drug. “I just can do more. I’m more active. My joints don’t hurt as much. I just feel like something as simple as just getting down is a lot easier for me. And I do it a lot faster,” she said. “I feel like I have a lot of energy and it’s great. I just feel pretty good about it.”

Serena Williams’ family, including husband Alexis Ohanian, their two daughters Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. and Adira River Ohanian, watch her play against Maya Joint of Australia during day two of The Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2026 on June 30, 2026, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Ray Tang/Anadolu via Getty Images)

So, Exactly How Much Weight Has Williams Lost? … Drum Roll Please!Serena Williams attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/FilmMagic)

Ro’s website confirms that the 5′ 9″ tall tennis star lost a whopping 34 pounds.

Similarly, Tennis.com reports that Williams “says she lost 34 pounds after one year on Zepbound (tirzepatide). She has also reported steadier blood sugar levels, reduced cardiovascular risk and a 30 percent improvement in total cholesterol—noting that some markers are now better than when she was competing.”

Throughout her 27-year-long career Williams represented body positivity not only for her athletic build, but also her natural voluptuosity, particularly within the Black community. Her weight loss journey has been marked by brutal body shaming, sparked heated debates about self-acceptance, and raised concerns about GLP1 drugs giving athletes a “performance edge,” according to NewsNation.

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Weight loss drugs or not, Serena’s body looks incredible, and rest assured, that thang is still thangin’. No stranger to controversy on or off the court, I trust that she will have no problem cripwalking—without any joint pain!—past her haters.