Serena Williams Knows Who She'd Want To Play In A Barbie Sequel

Serena Williams is no stranger to major life milestones. After all, the 45-year-old global superstar has won four gold medals, 23 major tournament singles titles, and counting. But now she’s celebrating another cool achievement: getting her own Barbie Signature Doll.

Now available in stores, the doll is inspired by her 2005 Grand Slam win at the Australian Open, where she wore her iconic lime green and white look. “The outfit was very complicated. It had a lot of pieces to it, and [Mattel] nailed it all, the shoes and everything,” Williams tells Bustle. “I was really adamant about having big curly hair and having a little color in the hair as well.”

But beyond recreating her look, the doll also holds a special meaning to the tennis star. That particular Grand Slam win came after a difficult year performance-wise.

“There were so many moments where I had to come back from being behind, and I thought it was a really good opportunity to storytell,” Williams says. “When we're playing with the dolls, we're teaching our little girls life lessons. It's so easy to give up and walk away, or so easy when something doesn't work out to quit. This Barbie doll means more than that. It means don't give up, start over, and keep going.”

Williams’ Barbie aspirations don’t just end there. She’s open to collaborating with Mattel again on another doll. If she had to pick another famous outfit of hers, one comes to mind instantly. “I think the Virgil outfit was pretty iconic,” she says, likely referencing either her memorable 2018 U.S. Open tutu or her statement-making 2019 French Open look.

She also thinks it would be “fun” to appear in a potential sequel to Margot Robbie’s 2023 blockbuster. “I could be Raquelle,” she says. “She's a villain, but she actually means well. She really wants to be Barbie's friend, but she always ends up making a mistake if she's overly competitive. And she's in love with Ken, and she's crazy. I love her.”