Grand Slam 23-time winner, Serena Williams, has said that she hates calling it retirement but prefers to say that she will soon “evolve” into growing her family.
The tennis maestro, who said today, August 9, in a post on Instagram that “the countdown has begun,” added: “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.”
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote in a Vogue article on Tuesday. “It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. 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.”
Serena Williams said that she didn’t want to choose between her career and having more children, but that at nearly 41 “something had to give.
“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 labour of expanding our family. Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”
Serena Williams announced herself on the big stage by winning the 1999 US Open, a tournament she would go on to claim five more times.