The retired tennis champion is launching a company with products whiz Eric Ryan called Will Perform, becoming part of a $1 billion industry to help everyday athletes recover from post-workout muscle aches.erena Williams knows what it’s like to feel sore. She played professional tennis for nearly three decades, ending her career in August at the age of 40. But, she says, she never found a remedy she could count on.
The timing was good for the Williams-Ryan pairing. Ryan’s revelation meshed with Williams’ focus on self-care and recovery. “In recent years, especially toward the end of my career, I started to think more about recovery and also the role that it’s played in my career,” Williams says. She sees a market that includes anyone who’s active, and includes herself. “I want to provide things that people really need, and things that I can actually use that are very authentic to me.
“I want to provide things that people really need, and things that I can actually use that are very authentic to me.”Ryan brought in Hank Mercier as the CEO of Will Perform and its third cofounder. Mercier had worked for Ryan at Method and stayed on when the soap company was acquired by SC Johnson in 2017. He ran all of North America for SC Johnson’s lifestyle brands, which include Method and Mrs. Meyer’s cleaning products, among others.