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TORONTO. — Serena Williams is stepping away from tennis, albeit eventually, and without using the word “retirement”.
Williams has suggested she is set to retire from tennis, saying she will be “evolving away” from the sport after the US Open.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion made just her second appearance of the year this week as she defeated Nuria Parrizas at the National Bank Open in Toronto on Monday.
“I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” the legendary athlete has announced in the latest issue of Vogue.
“It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s next.”
Williams is not quitting immediately. For starters, she’s currently playing in a tournament in Toronto, and actually just won her first match in 430 days on Monday after battling health issues for much of the past few seasons.
And as she revealed in her piece, Williams is still hopeful she can play at the US Open in New York later this month. She’s also committed to playing at next week’s Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
”Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year,” she wrote. “And I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try. And the lead-up tournaments will be fun.”
And Williams isn’t looking for the kind of “farewell” tour that many male athletes have enjoyed before their imminent retirements.
Instead, the younger half of the famed Williams Sisters thanked fans in her piece and admitted that she’s going to miss the game.
“But I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment,” she continued. “I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst. But please know that I am more grateful for you than I can ever express in words. You have carried me to so many wins and so many trophies. I’m going to miss that version of me, that girl who played tennis. And I’m going to miss you.”
Williams not only wants to spend more time with her husband, Alexis, and their five-year-old, Olympia, but the 23-time Grand Slam singles winner revealed that the couple is trying to have another child in the near future.
“In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we’re ready, we can add to our family,” Williams wrote. “I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.”
The 40-year-old Williams has not won a Grand Slam since the 2017 Australian Open, and has been chasing her 24th major singles championship to draw her even with Margaret Court on the all-time leader-board.
Williams doesn’t deny that the record is meaningful, but she took the time to put it in perspective for Vogue.
“There are people who say I’m not the GOAT because I didn’t pass Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles, which she achieved before the “Open era’ that began in 1968,” she wrote. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. Obviously I do. But day to day, I’m really not thinking about her. If I’m in a Grand Slam final, then yes, I am thinking about that record. Maybe I thought about it too much, and that didn’t help.
“The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus Grand Slams,” she continued. ”I had my chances after coming back from giving birth. I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a Grand Slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.”
The announcement comes, strangely enough, after her first win in 430 days.
“I’m just happy to get a win,” Williams said on Monday after beating Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 6-4 at the women’s National Bank Open in Toronto. ”It’s been a very long time, I forgot what that felt like.”
It’s just the second tournament of the season for the 40-year-old Williams, who returned to competition at Wimbledon just over a month ago. The 23-time Grand Slam champion fell in the first round to Harmony Tan in three sets at the All England Club.
Before then, she last competed at the 2021 Wimbledon tournament, where she retired in the middle of her first match due to a torn hamstring suffered after slipping on the grass surface. — Sky Sports
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