Serena Williams is set to retire from tennis

One of the greatest tennis players in women’s singles history, Serena Williams has revealed her upcoming retirement from professional tennis.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles titles winner Serena Williams was recently featured in The Vogue September 2022 issue, where she opened up her upcoming journey in life. The 40-year-old tennis player is now set to retire from tennis to grow her family.

Serena told Vogue, “I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. 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. A few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after that, I started a family. I want to grow that family.”

However, the popular American tennis player hasn’t revealed the exact time of her retirement. On her official Instagram account, she clarified that “the countdown has begun”.

Serena wrote to her Instagram account, “There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction. That time is always hard when you love something so much. My goodness do I enjoy tennis. But now, the countdown has begun. 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.”

So, we can expect Serena Williams in the upcoming US Open 2022, which will run between August 29 and September 11.

Serena Williams: A legend

While Serena has spent professional tennis for more than two decades, she evolved into one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She is holding the Open Era Grand Slam records in women’s singles with 23 titles. In overall women’s singles history, Serena is just behind former Australian Margaret Court, who won 24 Grand Slams.  

Serena is jointly holding the record of spending most successive weeks in the number 1 position in the WTA singles rankings (186 weeks; similar to former German tennis player Steffi Graf). In her entire career, she has spent 319 weeks on top of the WTA singles rankings.

Serena also achieved the number 1 position in the WTA doubles rankings. She also has 14 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles. Moreover, Serena won two Grand Slams in mixed doubles in 1998 (Wimbledon and US Open), while she also reached the French Open 1998 final and Australian Open 1999 final. She was also a crucial member when the US won Fed Cup 1999 and Hopman Cup 2003 and 2008.

Serena won four Olympic gold medals, thrice in doubles (2000, 2008 and 2012) and once in singles (2012).  

Serena is holding a world record in tennis history as she is the only tennis player (including both male and female) to win a Golden Slam in both singles and doubles [Golden Slam means winning each of the four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open) as well as an Olympic Gold medal].