After The U.s. Open, Serena Williams Plans To Retire From Tennis
It has been announced that Serena Williams, the owner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles, will retire from tennis after this summer’s U.S. Open. On Tuesday, Williams, 40, announced her decision on the website of Vogue magazine.
As a result of the conflicting urges of wanting another child and also facing off with the world’s best tennis players, she made the decision to have another child.
There is a part of me that is going to miss that version of myself, that girl who played tennis,” Williams added in a message to her fans: “And I am going to miss you, too.”
Williams said, apparently referring to the print magazine’s publication date in September, that “Something’s got to give” since he is turning 41 this month.
In the Open Era, Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, a record for any woman or man during the Open Era.
After The U.s. Open, Serena Williams Plans To Retire From Tennis
Tennis players are few and far between, with the only one holding more major singles titles being Margaret Court of Australia, whose record of 24 titles has withstood an inspired attack from Williams in recent years.
In the event that plays in the U.S. Open main draw begins on August 29, Williams will have a protected ranking of No. 16 when the tournament begins.
This tournament is scheduled to run for most of the following two weeks, and it is certain that many tributes will be paid to one of the greatest tennis players ever to pick up a racket.
With the decision to call it quits next month, Williams is in many ways coming full circle in her career. She was just 17 years old when she won her first Grand Slam singles title, at the U.S. Open in 1999.
The goal I started playing tennis with was to win the U.S. Open when I was 18 years old,” she said. “At that time, I didn’t think anything beyond that. I just kept winning and winning.”
As a matter of fact, Williams kept stacking up titles over the years, surpassing the likes of Martina Hingis and Monica Seles as well as her sister, Venus. Then she began to write her name in the record books above some of the sport’s legends: Billie Jean King; Chris Evert; Martina Navratilova.
In an article published by Vogue, Williams praised the players who came before her, as well as their fight for gender equality and their skill.
During the interview, she also talked about her growing interest in business and the inspiration she found in other powerful women, such as Facebook veteran Sheryl Sandberg and Caryn Seidman-Becker, the CEO of the security company Clear Secure.
During the announcement of her retirement, Williams resisted the temptation to speak about her own legacy, but she showed clear enthusiasm when talking about some of her business ventures, such as her involvement in financing startups, particularly those led by women and people of color.
One of the very first checks that she wrote for MasterClass was written by her. In fact, it is one of the 16 unicorns – companies with a valuation of more than $1 billion – that Serena Ventures has invested in, along with Tonal, Impossible Foods, Noom, and Esusu, to name a few.
Over the decades, it seems as though Serena Williams is unable to stop racking up the wins, as countless opponents have said over the years.