Serena Williams opens up about how hard motherhood has been so far

The interview sheds light on Williams’ recovery from her traumatic birth experience , and how her mental health has been impacted by the challenges she’s faced in going from a medical emergency to new motherhood and back to the tennis court all within one year.

“Some days, I cry. I’m really sad. I’ve had meltdowns. It’s been a really tough 11 months,” she said.

It would have been easy for Williams to keep her struggles to herself over the last year. She didn’t have to tell the world about her life-threatening birth experience, her decision to stop breastfeeding , her maternal mental health, how she missed her daughter’s first steps , or any of it. But she did share these experiences, and in doing so she started incredibly powerful conversations on a national stage.

After Serena lost at Wimbledon this summer, she told the mothers watching around the world that she was playing for them. “And I tried,” she said through tears. “I look forward to continuing to be back out here and doing what I do best.”

In the TIME cover story, what happened before that match, where Williams lost to Angelique Kerber was revealed. TIME reports that Williams checked her phone about 10 minutes before the match, and learned, via Instagram, that the man convicted of fatally shooting her sister Yetunde Price, in 2003 is out on parole.

“I couldn’t shake it out of my mind,” Serena says. “It was hard because all I think about is her kids,” she says. She was playing for all the mothers out there, but she had a specific mother on her mind during that historic match.

Williams’ performance at Wimbledon wasn’t perfect, and neither is she, as she clearly states on the cover of time. But motherhood isn’t perfect either. It’s okay to admit that. Thanks, Serena, for showing us how.