Serena Williams, ESPN The Magazine
Though the five-time No. 1–ranked women's tennis player once said she's not a fan of working out, you'd never know it from looking at her. For ESPN The Magazine's Body issue in 2009, Serena Williams sat naked, glistening and proud, showcasing the bulging biceps and sculpted legs that helped her smash tennis balls at 128 m.p.h. She was 28 at the time and would be the best female tennis player in the world that year, with major wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Though her career was at an all-time high, the cover was timed to the release of her memoir On the Line, which discusses her struggles with her weight and depression. That may have been her past, but the nude image suggested a newfound confidence and hit home the message that beauty has no size limit.