Nationwide — Tennis celebrity Venus Williams is being honored with a Barbie Inspiring Girls doll that celebrates all of her Grand Slam victories and her struggle for gender equality in sports activities. The collectible displays her 2007 Wimbledon triumph, the place she made historical past on and off the courtroom.
In accordance with ABC Information, the doll options Williams in her all-white Wimbledon outfit, paired with a inexperienced gem necklace, wristband, racket, and tennis ball. The look is a direct nod to the second she received the match as the primary girl to obtain equal prize cash.
Williams’s journey towards that milestone started years earlier. In 2005, she met with French Open and Wimbledon officers to demand equal pay for feminine gamers. She later wrote in The Occasions that the tournaments have been on the “incorrect aspect of historical past,” urging them to make change.
Her advocacy led to a breakthrough in 2007, when each tournaments awarded equal prize cash to women and men. Williams’s Wimbledon victory that yr grew to become symbolic of progress, marking her as a champion far past tennis.
Barbie mentioned in an announcement that Williams’s braveness and persistence proceed to encourage individuals worldwide, aligning with the model’s mission of empowering future generations. “Simply as Barbie stays devoted to inspiring limitless prospects, Venus’s bravery and dedication to gender equality continues to encourage individuals world wide – each in sports activities and past,” the assertion learn.
The Venus Williams Barbie is offered for buy on Amazon
This isn’t Williams’s first collaboration with Barbie. In Might, she was amongst 9 feminine athletes honored with dolls to have a good time the model’s sixty fifth anniversary. Reflecting on the popularity, Williams mentioned she has all the time been pushed to “shatter glass ceilings” and was proud to encourage younger ladies to maintain believing of their goals.