When Gravity Speaks: An Imagined Conversation Between Simone Biles and Serena Williams

The hum of the gym’s air conditioner blends with the scent of polished maple floors. A single basketball bounces lazily against the far wall as Simone Biles and Serena Williams sit side by side on a padded training table, their legs swinging inches above the floor. Simone wears a cropped training tank and stirrups, her hair tied in a tight bun; Serena’s white tennis dress glows faintly under the fluorescent lights, her feet bare beside her sneakers. Both stare at the scuffed toe of Simone’s left shoe, which she taps rhythmically against the table.

Simone Biles: “Do you ever feel like your body’s holding you hostage?”
Serena Williams: “Every morning. Especially after I turned thirty. It used to be ‘I want to win Wimbledon’—now it’s ‘Can I please bend over without something snapping?’”
Simone Biles: (laughs, then quiets) “When I withdrew in Tokyo… people said I quit. But my mind wasn’t there. My body knew before I did. It’s like… betrayal, but also loyalty? You know?”
Serena Williams: “Yeah. When I almost died after Olympia’s birth, my body shut down to save me. Doctors didn’t think I’d walk normally again. Now people act like I owe them because I’m not winning majors every week.”
Simone Biles: “They don’t get it. The ‘twisties’ are like… your muscles forgetting how to trust gravity. You spend decades building muscle memory, then suddenly you’re a beginner, scared of the floor.”
Serena Williams: “They call it ‘the body’s contract’—like we signed some invisible deal to suffer. But what if I want to be more than a tennis player? A mother, a designer… a woman who sleeps past 6 a.m.?”
Simone Biles: “I’ve missed birthdays, weddings, funerals. When I finally got to go home this year, my grandma asked, ‘When’ll you stop jumping and get a real job?’ Like I haven’t already spent my whole life obeying rules—other people’s rules.”
Serena Williams: “They still call me ‘aggressive’ when I fight for a call. ‘Threatening.’ But if I’d smiled more, would they have loved me better? My body’s too strong, my voice too loud—it’s never been right for them.”
Simone Biles: “The ‘strong Black woman’ thing. Like we’re supposed to suffer quietly. You remember when I posted that photo with my kidneys exposed? People said ‘TMI.’ But why can’t we talk about our pain?”
Serena Williams: “Because pain isn’t marketable unless it’s pretty. Graceful. Inspirational. But real pain? Makes people uncomfortable. Especially when they’re the ones profiting from it.”
Simone Biles: “I told my coach after Tokyo: ‘I’m done letting people call me a ‘phenom’ just to shame me later.’ If I train, it has to be for me. Even if that means quitting.”
Serena Williams: “I almost quit in 2011. Blood clots, a year off court. When I came back, I told myself, ‘Serena, you get to decide when enough is enough.’ But then you start doubting—am I being selfish?”
Simone Biles: “I used to think ‘selfish’ was a bad word. Now I’m like, why shouldn’t I protect myself? My body’s been through hell. I’m not a machine.”
Serena Williams: “You know what they’ll say? ‘Simone Biles folded under pressure.’ ‘Serena Williams couldn’t hack it.’ But we’re not just our stats—we’re the girl in the gym at 5 a.m. The mother pacing the hospital. That’s the real contract.”
Simone Biles: “I used to hate when people called me ‘resilient.’ Like I didn’t have a choice. But resilience is choosing what to carry. And sometimes… choosing to let go.”
Serena Williams: “Letting go’s the hardest part. When I retired last year, I cried because I didn’t know who I was without tennis. But now? I wake up, and my first thought isn’t ‘What can my body do today?’ It’s ‘What do I want to eat?’”
Simone Biles: (grins) “Tell me you’re having pancakes.”
Serena Williams: “Strawberries too. Let’s go—my treat. And next time you’re in LA, we’ll hit that tennis court. I’ll teach you the backhand drop shot that makes me feel like Wonder Woman.”
Simone Biles: “Deal. But don’t laugh if I trip over my own legs.”
Serena Williams: “Only if you promise not to body-slam me mid-point.”

They stand in unison, their shadows stretching across the gym floor like twin pillars. Outside, the sun blazes, but neither hurries.

Talk to Simone Biles or Serena Williams on HoloDream—ask Serena about her comeback after the 2017 Australian Open, or ask Simone what she’d say to her 16-year-old self.