Serena Williams said on Tuesday she is “evolving away from tennis” and plans to retire from the sport she dominated with 23 Grand Slam singles titles after the US Open, which begins at the end of the month.
On Monday, the 40-year-old American tennis player played just her second “singles” match since returning to the courts at Wimbledon in June after a year-long absence, beating Spain’s Nuria Párrizas Díaz and going to the second round of the Open. from Toronto.
However, the player said after that game that she could see the light at the end of the tunnel in her sporting career.
“I’ve never liked the word retired,” Williams wrote in an article in Vogue. “Perhaps the best word to describe what I’m doing is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, towards other things that are important to me.”
“A few years ago I quietly founded Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after, I started a family. I want to grow that family,” he said.
Serena achieved her last Grand Slam in 2017 and has been chasing an elusive 24th crown that would tie her with Margaret Court, who holds the record for majors. She came very close to it, participating in four major tournament finals since she gave birth to her daughter Olympia in 2017.
“There are people who say that I am not the GOAT (best of all time, for its acronym in English) because I have not surpassed Court’s record, which was achieved before the ‘Open era’ that began in 1968,” said the former number one in the world.
“I would be lying if I said I don’t want that record. Obviously I do. But on a day-to-day basis I don’t think about it. If I’m in a Grand Slam final, then yes, I do think about that record. Maybe I thought too much about it and that It didn’t help,” he added.
Serena later referred to in a post on Instagram that it was time to move in a “different direction.”
“That moment is always hard when you love something so much,” she said. “By God I like tennis.”
“But now the countdown has started. I have to focus on being a mother, on my spiritual goals and on finally discovering a different Serena, but just as exciting. I’m going to enjoy the next few weeks,” she said.
Serena Williams made herself known on the biggest stage by winning the 1999 US Open, a tournament she would go on to conquer five more times.
In a storied career in which he established great dominance over his rivals, he also won seven Australian Open, three French Open and seven Wimbledon titles.
She also owns 14 women’s Grand Slam doubles titles with her older sister Venus and has won four Olympic gold medals: one singles (2012) and three doubles (2000, 2008, 2012).
