Serena Williams announces her retirement from tennis
Serena Williams announces her retirement from tennis: Tennis legend Serena Williams announced her retirement in a Vogue article published on 9th August 2022.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote. “Maybe the best word to describe what I am up to is ‘evolution.’ I am here to tell you that I am evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
Williams will be turning 41 next month. She owns 73 career singles titles, 23 career doubles titles, and over $94 million in her career.
Williams belongs to a group of the greatest athletes of all time. In her Vogue piece, she revealed some of her detractor’s points. She said that she has never won the most Grand Slam titles in women’s tennis history.
“There are people who say I am not the GOAT because I did not pass Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles, which she achieved before the ‘open era’ that began in 1968,” Williams wrote. “I would be lying if I said I did not want that record.”
She announces to retire after the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open will run from late August into September. A victory there would bag her Court’s Grand Slam record.
“I do not know if I will be ready to win New York. But I am going to try,” Williams said about the tournament, which is played in Queens.
She has contracts with companies including Audemars Piguet, Away, Bumble, Nike, Gatorade, Beats, Gucci, Michelob, Nintendo, Lincoln, Wilson Sporting Goods, and Procter and Gamble.
“I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I do not think it is fair,” Williams wrote. “If I were a guy, I would not be writing this because I would be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.”
Williams is focusing on her family and so she announced her retirement. She wrote about her five-year-old daughter who wants to be an older sister. Williams’ husband is Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian.
“I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena. I am gonna relish these next few weeks,” Williams wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
Professionally, she wants to expand Serena Ventures. Serena Ventures is a small investment firm of six people. It belongs to a group of the first investors in MasterClass. Her firm raised about $111 million in financing this year.
Williams revealed that only 2% of venture capital goes to women.
“In order for us to change that, more people who look like me need to be in that position, giving money back to themselves.”