Serena Williams Announces She’s Leaving Tennis

Serena Williams Announces She’s Leaving Tennis, Wouldn’t Call It Retirement But Evolution

Serena Willians, one of the greatest athletes of all time, announced on Tuesday that she will retire from tennis following the 2022 US Open at the end of August.

In a piece she penned for Vogue, as well as in a post on Instagram, the 23-time Grand Slam champion said that while she still loves tennis, she’s ready to move on to new things.

The decision to retire wasn’t easy for Williams, even though it’s something she knew was coming soon. In Vogue, she wrote that she hasn’t really been able to discuss even the possibility of retirement with anyone, only bringing it up with her therapist.

 

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“But I’ve been reluctant to admit to myself or anyone else that I have to move on from playing tennis,” Williams wrote. “Alexis, my husband, and I have hardly talked about it; it’s like a taboo topic. I can’t even have this conversation with my mom and dad. It’s like it’s not real until you say it out loud. It comes up, I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry. The only person I’ve really gone there with is my therapist!”

Even though she’s calling this a “retirement,” she doesn’t really like that word. “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution,” Williams said in Vogue. “I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”

She’s also planning to expand her family with her husband, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. They already have a daughter, Olympia, who turns five in August, and she wants to be a big sister.

“Sometimes before bed, [Olympia] prays to Jehovah to bring her a baby sister. (She doesn’t want anything to do with a boy!) I’m the youngest of five sisters myself, and my sisters are my heroes, so this has felt like a moment I need to listen very carefully to.”