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Serena Williams
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Serena The Great
No athlete alive dominates a sport like Serena Williams does women’s tennis. But on the whole, she’d rather be eating cinnamon rolls.
By Stephen Rodrick
Photograph by Theo Wenner
Who is the most dominant figure in sports today? LeBron James? Michael Phelps? Please. Get that weak sauce out of here. It is Serena Williams. She runs women’s tennis like Kim Jong-un runs North Korea: ruthlessly, with spare moments of comedy, indolence and the occasional appearance of a split personality. Here are the facts. Serena is the Number One tennis player in the world. Maria Sharapova is the Number Two tennis player in the world.
Tiwa Savage
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Africa Finds its R&B Queen at Last
From George Michael’s erstwhile backing vocalist and an X-Factor also-ran to a Grammy-nominated R&B contender, Nigerian songstress Tiwa Savage finally gets her groove on.
By Phiona Okumu
Photograph by Seun Odusanya
The noughties were not good to R&B. Like any other black urban music style, R&B doesn’t get to enjoy the privilege of ageing gracefully the way that, say, rock veterans might. It was only as late as last year that a glimmer of hope for the genre appeared via the emerging left-leaning singer/songwriters of the internet age like Odd Future’s odd man out Frank Ocean, Prince disciple Miguel or Canada’s Drake-endorsed The Weeknd, and even hipster favourite Solange Knowles.
Ross Learmonth
THE ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW
No More Mr Nice Guy
Prime Circle’s lead singer talks bluntly about the battles a rock band has to fight to stay on top for over a decade.
By Diane Coetzer
Photography by Nick Boulton
Ross Learmonth and I are barrelling down the N4 towards Middelburg, Mpumalanga. We’re in an SUV he tells me he bought from Leon Schuster. Not directly, he quickly clarifies, but the dealer told him the filmmaker and comedian was the previous owner. Learmonth has just lit up the next in a stream of cigarettes he will smoke during the day we spend together. Racing by, on both sides of the car, are the grasslands of the Highveld, on the cusp of turning into the muted browns of autumn.