Serena Williams announces her retirement from tennis
The 40-year-old has clinched 73 career singles titles and 23 career doubles titles.
Legendary tennis player Serena Williams announced her retirement in a Vogue article published on Tuesday.
Tennis star Serena Williams has said that she will “evolve away from tennis” after taking part in this year’s US Open 2022 to focus on different things that are important in her life. The 23-time Grand Slam champion announced her interest in a “different direction” but said she will try to give her best and win the US Open this year. However, she will retire from Tennis forever after the Grand Slam this year.
“There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction,” was Williams’ caption for an Instagram post with a picture of herself on the cover of Vogue with the title: ‘Serena’s Farewell…I’m terrible at goodbyes.’
Surprisingly, Serena’s retirement announcement came just one day after she won her first singles match in almost a year, 430 days to be exact. She recently lost to France’s Harmony Tan after returning to competition after a one-year absence, and she has hinted at competing in the US Open, which begins on August 29.
“I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try,” Williams wrote about the tournament, which is played in Queens.
“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,” Williams wrote. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record.”
“I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair,” Williams wrote. “If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.”
Williams said that she wants to focus on her spiritual goals and motherhood going forward.
“I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena. I’m gonna relish these next few weeks,” Williams wrote in an Instagram post.
Serena demonstrated complete control when she was in form during her incredible career. Williams has 73 singles titles, 23 doubles titles, and two mixed doubles titles in her career. She has 23 singles titles, 14 doubles titles, and two mixed doubles titles among her 39 Grand Slams. She is only one Grand Slam title away from breaking Margaret Court’s all-time record.
The four-time Olympic gold winner for the United States has earned more than $94.5 million in career prize money from tennis than any other female athlete. Her most recent Grand Slam victory came in 2017. Serena became engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2016 and gave birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.