From Grand Slam legends to current stars, these vegan tennis players are proving that a plant-based diet can fuel strength, stamina, and success on the court.
Plant-based diets have been proven to reduce recovery time and improve performance, so it’s no surprise that some of the top tennis players have gone vegan to boost their performance on the pitch.
Tennis is a demanding sport that requires players to be physically fit and agile, so it’s no wonder some of the sport’s top stars are turning to a plant-based diet to improve their fitness and recovery times.
From tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams to the world’s No. 2 player, Novak Djokovic, these vegan tennis players all prove that a plant-based diet is the key to success.
1. Venus Williams
Venus Williams to help ease the symptoms of Sjögren’s syndrome, a debilitating and incurable autoimmune disease. Photo © Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Venus Williams adopted a vegan diet on the recommendation of her doctor, after being diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, a debilitating and incurable autoimmune disease, which causes excessive fatigue. Doctors encouraged her to adopt a raw vegan diet to help manage her diagnosis, and her sister and fellow tennis player Serena took on the diet to support Venus. She was told that the raw diet would help with fatigue and joint pain.
Speaking to Health magazine, Venus Williams said: “I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and I wanted to maintain my performance on the court. Once I started, I fell in love with the concept of fuelling your body in the best way possible [through raw, vegan food].”
When asked about any tips she had to help people change their diets, Williams said: “I always tell people that you have to enjoy what you’re eating. If you’re eating a plant-based diet, or a mixture of one, make sure you’re eating something you like. Find a restaurant, recipes, or join a community – that way you can learn and enjoy your food. If you can’t enjoy your eating, I don’t know how much life would be!”
2. Serena Williams
Serena has released a vegan fashion line using innovative, animal-friendly materials. Photo © Tim Clayton - Corbis/Getty Images
Venus Williams adopted a vegan diet on the recommendation of her doctor, after being diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, a debilitating and incurable autoimmune disease, which causes excessive fatigue. Doctors encouraged her to adopt a raw vegan diet to help manage her diagnosis, and her sister and fellow tennis player Serena took on the diet to support Venus. She was told that the raw diet would help with fatigue and joint pain.
Speaking to Health magazine, Venus Williams said: “I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and I wanted to maintain my performance on the court. Once I started, I fell in love with the concept of fuelling your body in the best way possible [through raw, vegan food].”
When asked about any tips she had to help people change their diets, Williams said: “I always tell people that you have to enjoy what you’re eating. If you’re eating a plant-based diet, or a mixture of one, make sure you’re eating something you like. Find a restaurant, recipes, or join a community – that way you can learn and enjoy your food. If you can’t enjoy your eating, I don’t know how much life would be!”
2. Serena Williams
Serena has released a vegan fashion line using innovative, animal-friendly materials. Photo © Tim Clayton - Corbis/Getty Images
Venus’ sister Serena is believed to follow a mostly vegan diet, for health reasons, however some articles say that she relapses to non-vegan foods.
In an article published on Hungry Forever, Serena Williams said: “I think it’s just really good to clean out your system sometimes just to get rid of all the waste and things like that that are just in your system and let the earth from the plants really clean you out. So I’m a big believer in that.”
In recent years, Serena has launched her own vegan fashion line complete with a collection inspired by Africa – S by Serena Spring 2020.
Speaking to ESSENCE about the decision to use vegan materials including animal-free leather, the athlete and entrepreneur explained: “I feel like a lot of things are being killed and we’re not saving the earth. We can all just do one small thing and help out so that was also a lot of our inspiration.”
3. Novak Djokovic
Serbia tennis player, Novak Djokovic, who ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, is a vocal proponent of plant-based diets. Photo © Valerio Pennicino/Stringer/Getty Images
Novak Djokovic is one of the most successful vegan tennis players of all time and fuels his body with a healthy plant-based diet.
Djokovic switched to a vegan, gluten-free diet following health problems which saw him collapsing mid-match. He trialled a gluten-free diet and immediately noticed the effects, prompting him to stick to a gluten-free diet. Intolerance tests found that dairy was also a problem, and removed refined sugar too.
Speaking about his diet to Forbes, Djokovic said: “My diet hasn’t just changed my game, it’s changed my life – my wellbeing. And if I feel better, that obviously transfers to my professional life. Eating vegan makes me more aware of my body on the court… more alert. I removed toxin from my body, and with them went all the inflammation and other things that were messing with my energy levels.
“As an athlete, the most important this is to keep your energy levels consistent – especially as a tennis player, where you’re alone on the course for a best of five match. When playing for 3, 4, 5 hours straight, you need the right fuel… and for me, that right fuel is plant based.”
Djokovic practices yoga and meditation daily to have a calm state of mind, and when speaking to Amuse, he said: “Everybody has their ways to reach that state of consciousness where you’re in a good mood and you feel love towards yourself, towards people around you, towards the planet. The tennis star opened a vegan restaurant in 2016 in Monaco, called Eqvita.
4. Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova, who won 18 grand slams – including 9 Wimbledon titles, is an animal lover and avid supporter of PETA. Photo © Roy Rochlin/Stringer/Getty Images
Martina Navratilova is one of the most accomplished athletes in tennis history. With an astonishing 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a record-setting 31 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, she remains the only player, male or female, to have held the world number one ranking in both singles and doubles for over 200 weeks.
Beyond her dominance on the court, Navratilova’s ability to maintain elite-level performance well into middle age, a rarity in professional tennis, was remarkable. One of the key factors behind her longevity? A plant-based diet.
During a recent podcast, former American doubles player Kimberly Po shared how Navratilova’s dietary choices deeply influenced those around her. In the early ’90s, Navratilova gave Po a book advocating for a vegan lifestyle, highlighting the health and environmental benefits of cutting out animal products.
“Martina gave me a book… it was about being vegan, more than that, really – it was about saving the world because of the greenhouse effect of animals,” said Po.
“She watched everything she put in her body. It wasn’t just training or diet – it was the whole package. That’s why she was so incredible for so long.”
Navratilova herself credits her shift toward a plant-based diet as a turning point in her career: “Most professional athletes retire in their early to mid-30s. I won a US Open Mixed Doubles title six weeks before my 50th birthday. I believe that moving toward a more plant-based diet was the major reason I was able to continue playing professional tennis through my 40s.
It made me mentally sharper and made it possible for me to endure the physical conditioning required to compete at that level.”
5. Hubert Hurkacz
Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz has followed a plant-based diet since 2018.
In an interview with ATPTour.com, Hurkacz said he was inspired to go vegan after watching documentaries about food and receiving recommendations
The sportsman, who was once ranked world No. 9 in singles, said that he was motivated to stick with a plant-based diet because he soon “started to feel pretty good, with more energy.”
On match days, he keeps his energy levels high with a meal of rice, veggies and tomato sauce. During the match, he snacks on bananas and dates to give him a boost of energy.
Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz has followed a plant-based diet since 2018. Photo © Kelly Defina/Stringer/Getty Images
6. Nick Kyrgios
Kyrgios was inspired to adopt a plant-based diet. Photo © Kelly Defina/Stringer via Getty Images
Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios, who finished as runner-up to fellow plant-based player Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon 2022, is also fuelled by a plant-based diet.
Unlike many sports stars who turn to a plant-based diet to improve performance, it was seeing the suffering animals faced in fires that ravaged Australia in 2020 that inspired Kyrgios to ditch meat and dairy.
“I don’t eat meat or dairy anymore. That’s not for my health, I just don’t believe in eating animals,” he explained in a blog post.
“Seeing the footage of these animals suffering with the fires only reinforces why I’ve chosen this diet. When I see these terrible photos, I can’t comprehend eating meat.”
In 2022, he told BBC Sport: “People always ask me, is it for health? It’s not for health because I don’t mind a pint of beer so I’m actually just doing it for the love of animals. I love animals and it’s so hard for me to eat them. I just don’t want to be doing that. I drive an electric car now, I’m trying to do as much as I can for the environment.
“You ask someone why do you eat meat or why do you drive a petrol car, and it’s like, ‘oh, it’s too late to do anything, it’s too late to save” and I’m just trying to be the change that I want to see. But that’s it. I love animals and I love the world, I love the environment, so I’m doing everything I can to prolong its welfare.”
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