Author: Phlippages
Serena Williams, one of the most decorated athletes of her generation, is reluctantly planning to retire from professional tennis so she can focus on growing her family.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion explained her decision in a cover story in Vogue magazine, published Tuesday. She said she didn’t want to choose between her career and having more children, but at almost 41, “something had to give.”
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Williams said. “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.”
Williams gave no timetable for her official retirement. She suggested she will compete at the US Open, which starts later this month in New York.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year,” she said. “And I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try.”
Williams and her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, have been trying to have another child in the past year, she said, after giving birth to their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, in 2017. After tennis, Williams also plans to focus on her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, which primarily invests in businesses started by women and people of colour.
