Tennis champ Serena Williams is just one of the many athletes to be featured in the upcoming edition of ESPN Magazine, the first ever The Body Issue. This special edition will aim to show the world the perfect bodies in sports such as the editors at ESPN see them – and one of them belongs to cover girl Serena. The cover photo has already surfaced on the Internet, and, as ESPN anticipated, it did not fail to create a buzz, as AceShowbiz informs.

Although she repeatedly stated in the past that there were many things about her body that she was insecure about, as well as many things that she would gladly change if she had the chance, there is little indication of any of that in the recently released photo. This is because, in it, Serena wears only the most radiant smile and red lipstick, while her modesty is strategically hidden on camera by some smart positioning. As noted above, she’s not the only one to take it all (or most of it) off for the magazine.

“Serena is one of the six athletes picked out to be featured on six different covers of ESPN magazine. The five other chosen sport stars are martial artist Gina Carano, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, triathlete Sarah Reinertsen, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, and Dwight Howard of the NBA’s Orlando Magic.” AceShowbiz says. Serena’s photo is not the only one to have surfaced online – as a matter of fact, all six are now available. Useless to say, the reaction to all of them has been nothing but positive.

“Those athletes are parts of ESPN magazine’s ‘Bodies We Want’ section, which editor-in-chief Gary Belsky described during a recent conference call as ‘essentially our version of the best bodies in sports.’ The section will feature top athletes […]. Besides, there will be another section dubbed ‘Exposure,’ for which some famous figures in sport will pose in their birthday suits.” the same e-zine says of what the world is to expect from The Body Issue.

The special issue of ESPN Magazine is out on newsstands this Friday.