40-year-old pro-athlete, Serena Williams announced her retirement from tennis in an essay for the September issue of Vogue. She confirmed that she plans on the U.S Open to be her last tournament. She made this decision to expand her family and give their four-year-old daughter, Olympia Ohanian, a sibling. Serena said she “never liked the word retirement” she stated that she will be “moving on” from tennis this fall. Throughout Serena’s career she’s won 23 Grand Slam titles and has been ranked single world No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association for 319 weeks. Despite wanting to beat Margaret Courts’ Grand Slam Title record of 24, she looks back on her career proudly.
“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,” she 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.” In addition to her family, Serena now plans on focusing her attention on her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures. Despite coming to terms with her decision, Serena said there is “no happiness” in talking about the subject of retirement. “It’s the hardest thing I could ever imagine,” she admitted. “I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads.” Serena told Vogue.
“These days, if I have to choose between building my tennis resume and building my family, I choose the latter,” she concluded.
