Venus Williams redefines hustle in Entrepreneur mag

When speaking about Venus Williams, the phrase Sjogren's syndrome is used often, as she has dealt with that particular health situation for nearly a decade. But what matters greatly to her life and career is another condition, if a makeshift one – "champion's amnesia."

This and much more returns to light in her new cover story for Entrepreneur magazine's December issue, accompanied by the cover line "Venus Williams Redefines Hustle." Therein, Williams weighs in on her chances of playing, in three years' time, in the next Olympic Games.

"It seems somehow that 2020 Tokyo is on the horizon," the 37-year-old says. "Isn’t that wild? I’m trying to stick around for that."

Subtly embedded in her statements about the Olympics is this fact: She remains tied for the largest Olympic medal haul among all tennis players, and she's the only player ever to win medals at four different Olympic Games.

Also for Entrepreneur, she shares her mentality for giving her all, and her best, and letting that be that, leaving outcomes up to the fates.

It's a highly viable mindset for anyone, everyone, sports icon or not. From Entrepreneur's cover feature, here are some of Williams' most entertaining and/or helpful musings on her professional and personal lives:

About doing it all: "My mom was like, 'You can’t do everything, you don’t need to do all that, tennis takes a lot of energy, you need to focus,' so I would just not tell her what I was doing."

Pertaining to starting out as a propulsive business owner, and evolving: "It was good to be like that. That’s who I am, and now I am evolving. Project 2.0: Venus Gets a Life."

On continuing her education: "She’s now taking classes toward a degree in design – although she refuses to reveal where, because she’s not currently getting straight A’s. 'Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out how to get the best out of it without going crazy. That’s how your grades  drop. I finally learned what school was about. It’s about getting the best out of it and using your time wisely. I maybe realized that too late. I always brought that tennis mentality to it, like, perfection, perfection, perfection.'"

On how she leads her employees: "I’m not a micromanager. I don’t tell people what to do; I expect them to show me the way in their department."

Thus Williams, who started out as a net-crashing phenom and a likewise hard-charging small business owner, has grown her games in both disciplines. She has found equilibrium. But as with her on-court performance, Williams' off-court business deals in the athleisure and interior-design are about much more than decoration.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.