After dominating the sports world for more than two decades, Serena Williams is preparing to say goodbye to professional tennis.
In a beautiful cover essay for @VogueMagazine, titled “The Hardest Thing” the 23-time Grand Slam winner explains how she plans to retire from the sport. “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,” Serena says as she explains that she does not like the word retirement. She went on to say that there is “no happiness in this topic for me” as she wants to focus on family and her business investment empire. Williams believes that she isn’t able to do that while also playing tennis.
“But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter … In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we’re ready, we can add to our family. I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out,” Williams wrote.
She continued, “I don’t particularly like to think about my legacy. I get asked about it a lot, and I never know exactly what to say. But I’d like to think that thanks to opportunities afforded to me, women athletes feel that they can be themselves on the court.”
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When the time actually comes, Williams says she’s not looking for a big celebration: “I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment. I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst,” she wrote. “But please know that I am more grateful for you than I can ever express in words. You have carried me to so many wins and so many trophies. I’m going to miss that version of me, that girl who played tennis. And I’m going to miss you.”
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. 🥰
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Serena Williams who shares a daughter, Olympia, with husband Alexis Ohanian, also said in an Instagram post, “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. 🥰”