( ENSPIRE Sports ) All-Star Tennis Player Serena Williams is Saying Goodbye to Long and Strong Career in Tennis
ENSPIRE Contributor: Ava Girardi
23-time grand slam winner Serena Williams is saying farewell to tennis as she wants to focus more on taking care of her family and “evolve” into something more than tennis.
Williams stated that the US Open would be her final tournament, and she would like to focus on the next chapter in her life and leave tennis behind. Currently, Williams is playing at the Canadian Open and will play at the Western & Southern Open next week. The US Open will begin in late August, and her goal is to tie with player Margaret Court who has received 24 grand slams.
Williams shared her retirement with the world through an article by Vogue. She wrote about her view on this drastic change in her life. She is taking a giant leap in her life where she must put her tennis career behind her as she takes care of her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., and her husband of seven years, Alexis Ohanian.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote. “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
Williams has always fought for gender equality as one of the world’s best tennis players, and she describes that in the Vogue article. She states that to have the big family she wants, she must sacrifice her career, which many male athletes do not have to worry about doing.
“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” Williams wrote. “I don’t think it’s fair. 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.”
As a 41-year-old tennis player, Williams has set a standard for many female athletes. In 1995, Williams turned professional with her first singles title at the 1999 US Open. At the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, Williams won an Olympic Gold and became the first tennis player to gain a Career Golden Slam in singles and doubles. She has won 14 major women’s doubles titles, 4 Olympic gold medals, and was ranked 28th on Forbes’ World’s Highest Paid Athletes. Williams has also received the title of the highest earning women athlete of all time.
Read the Vogue article here. Follow Serena Williams on Instagram @serenawilliams.
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