Serena Williams Is Saying Goodbye To Her Tennis Career: ‘It’s The Hardest Thing That I Could Ever Imagine’

etcanada.com:

Serena Williams is preparing to say farewell to tennis after the 2022 U.S. Open. The professional athlete has announced her retirement from the sport in Vogue‘s September 2022 cover story while sharing the challenges of being at a crossroads of tennis and family. “Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family.

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,” Williams tells Vogue. “Don’t get me wrong: I love being a woman, and I loved every second of being pregnant with Olympia….

A lot of people don’t realize that I was two months pregnant when I won the Australian Open in 2017. But I’m turning 41 this month [on September 26], and something’s got to give.” READ MORE: Serena Williams Didn’t Tell Daughter’s Tennis Coach Who She Was Williams notes that she’s “never liked the word ‘retirement’,” and perhaps the best word to describe what she’s 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,” she shares, adding that her and husband Alexis, with whom she shares four-year-old daughter Olympia, “have been trying to have another child.” READ MORE: Serena Williams Is Making A Triumphant Return To Wimbledon Moving on from tennis has been a “taboo topic” for Williams, who says she’s been “reluctant to admit” that she’s moving on from the sport. “I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry,” she says when the topic comes up, noting