Serena Williams drops shocking retirement bombshell ahead of US Open 2022
Serena, who will turn 41 next month, has clinched 73 career singles title during her illustrious career, which includes 23 Grand Slam trophies as well. The last of it came back in 2017 at the Australian Open following which she had taken a maternity break for the birth of her daughter Olympia.
23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams on Tuesday revealed in a magazine article published online that she plans to bid adieu to the sport following the end of US Open 2022, which is slated to begin in the Flushing Meadows later this month. In the article, Serena explained her retirement plan saying, she is "evolving away from tennis".
On Monday, Serena played her second singles match in this calendar year since returning to action at Wimbledon in June. After almost a year of absence from the sport, Serena beat Spain's Nuria Parrizas Diaz in her Toronto event opener to proceed to the second round. She had earlier lost her opening match at the Wimbledon earlier this summer, to Harmony Tan.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote in a Vogue article. “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, who will turn 41 next month, has clinched 73 career singles title during her illustrious career, which includes 23 Grand Slam trophies as well. The last of it came back in 2017 at the Australian Open following which she had taken a maternity break for the birth of her daughter Olympia.
Following her return in 2018, Serena reached four Grand Slam finals in a space of 16 months but fell agonisingly short of equalling Margaret Court's elusive record of 24th majors, the most ever in tennis history.
"There are people who say I'm not the GOAT (greatest of all time) because I didn't pass Court's record, which she achieved before the 'Open era' that began in 1968," former world number one Williams said.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that record. Obviously I do. But day to day, I'm really not thinking about her. If I'm in a Slam final, then yes, I'm thinking about that record. Maybe I thought about it too much, and that didn't help."
With Serena opting to play at the US Open later this month, she will have one last shot at levelling the all-time record.
“I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try,” she said.