Williams will be the second black woman tennis player to be featured on the box – the breakfast cereal giant enlisted Althea Gibson to feature in 2001.
Williams is also the first active tennis player to be featured on Wheaties since Pete Sampras in 2000 and the fourth female tennis player.
“I am so excited to be on the cover of the next Wheaties box,” said Williams.
“I have dreamt of this since I was a young woman and it’s an honor to join the ranks of some of America’s most decorated athletes. I hope my image on this iconic orange box will inspire the next generation of girls and athletes to dream big.”
Williams has been named the WTA Player Of The Year seven times, has earned 23 major singles titles, 14 major doubles titles and was ranked the World No. 1 in women’s singles eight times between 2002 and 2017.
The 37-year-old – who has just had a baby – has yet to win at Wimbledon. However, tennis colleague Chris Evert (who herself was starred on the box in 1987) pegs the world No. 11 as the favorite despite her recent loss in the third round at the French Open.
Breakfast of champions
Wheaties began the practice of featuring athletes on its packaging in 1934 to reinforce the cereal’s ‘The Breakfast of Champions’ slogan.
Since then, hundreds of athletes from various sporting disciplines have appeared. Baseball ace Lou Gehrig was the first to be depicted and made a reappearance in 1992.
Athletes have made their appearance on boxes of original Wheaties, Honey Frosted Wheaties, Crispy Wheaties ‘n’ Raisins, Wheaties Energy Crunch and Wheaties Fuel.
Williams’ limited-edition Wheaties box will be available in the US in July.