Venus Williams’ days and weeks don’t always go the way she plans them. Business deals go awry, physio appointments make her run late, and her dog, Harry (or Harold, if you’re being formal), might demand she wake up early to feed him.
But come Monday, Williams—who has seven Grand Slam titles, five Wimbledon championships, and four Olympic gold medals—does her best to start off her weeks on a good foot. It’s a lesson ingrained from tennis, where Mondays are the first days of the tournament. So if you lose on a Monday, you’re not feeling too great.
That’s why, these days, she has two tricks to help her make the most of the day. It doesn’t come easily to her, though.
“I have to say, Mondays are not my best day, and Mondays are actually my busiest day,” Williams tells Well+Good. “It's kind of like you have to hit the ground running, you don't get a slow jog. You've gotta get started.”
1. Start on Sunday
Williams’ first trick actually starts on Sunday. She likes to write down her list of intentions for the day and the week before Monday comes around, so she has a purpose in mind.
“It helps a lot when you have a goal to work toward. Start the day before. [Say] these are my intentions for tomorrow, so that by the time you get to the day, you've already started it in the way you want to.” —Venus Williams
“I think that helps make it clear, it helps a lot when you have a goal to work toward,” Williams says. “Start the day before. [Say] these are my intentions for tomorrow, so that by the time you get to the day, you've already started it in the way you want to.”
2. Get the tunes going
While Williams prefers to “ease into” a Monday, that’s not always possible. But one way she always sets the tone is with a song.
“Honestly, the best way to start a Monday—or any day—is just with music,” Williams says. “If you have a speaker that you can dial right into, put your song on, get up, heat up with energy and good vibes, that's how I like to start.”
Williams is set to compete in the 2024 U.S. Open, which will be her 25th appearance at the tournament. (She's even won two U.S. Open titles in her career.) In addition to focusing on her mental game with the tricks above, she also does a mix of strength and cardio exercises off the court to stay in top physical shape for all of her matches. Her favorite moves include lying hip raises, dead bugs, and alternating leg raises with a resistance band.
And when she's not training for tennis—or starting companies like V Starr and EleVen—she's writing: Her new wellness-focused book, Strive: 8 Steps to Find Your Awesome, comes out September 10.
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