Venus Williams started experiencing the symptoms of Sjogren's syndrome back in 2004 when she was at the peak of her tennis career. These symptoms included problems like fatigue and shortness of breath. In a tell-all interview with Prevention in 2019, Venus opened up about how she was eventually diagnosed with the disease. “My symptoms got progressively worse, to the point where I couldn’t play professional tennis anymore,” she recalled.
As is common with people who suffer from autoimmune diseases, it took a while before the disease was finally diagnosed.
“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.”
It was finally in 2011 that she was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome. Venus said that she had been feeling out of control but the diagnosis was a welcome change. However, it was disheartening to know that there was no cure and that this would be a chronic problem, which will definitely affect her ability to perform better on court.
“In the beginning, I just had to wait to get better… One of the medications I had, took six months to set in. There was another that took one to three months. It was kind of a waiting game until you can go back to what you had been doing.”
Venus opened up about dealing with her illness again recently.
“I’m always looking for a way to feel my most optimum so I’m always trying new things. Whether that’s something as simple as drinking more water, getting more sleep trying to play a balanced schedule (not possible). But I like to live life on my own terms. And I want to at least if I can’t decide at least pretend that I can decide my destiny.”
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