The announcement was made on Instagram and also in a piece penned for Vogue. In her announcement, she said that she still loves tennis but is finally ready to move on to new things.
There has been much speculation in the past few years about whether or not retirement was in the cards for the 23-time Grand Slam winner. One of her most recent triumphs was winning 2017 Australian Open while eight-weeks pregnant with her daughter. Following her emergency C-section, she developed a pulmonary embolism that kept her in bed for more than a month.
After this, there was more speculation as to whether or not shed retire. But she came back from maternity leave and started playing some of the best tennis again until she was sidelined with an injury during the 2021 Wimbledon.
This led to a year-long absence from the sport and more speculation regarding retirement. In her piece for Vogue, she wrote:
But Ive been reluctant to admit to myself or anyone else that I have to move on from playing tennis.
“Alexis, my husband, and I have hardly talked about it; its like a taboo topic. I cant even have this conversation with my mom and dad. Its like its not real until you say it out loud. It comes up, I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry.
The only person Ive really gone there with is my therapist!”
Williams, though, does not really like calling it a retirement. Instead, she refers to it as an evolution.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution,” Williams said in Vogue.
“Im here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
In addition to her other ventures, Williams is also keen on expanding her family. She says that her five-year-old daughter wants to be a big sister.
“Sometimes before bed, [Olympia] prays to Jehovah to bring her a baby sister. (She doesn’t want anything to do with a boy!) Im the youngest of five sisters myself, and my sisters are my heroes, so this has felt like a moment I need to listen very carefully to.
The athlete recognized that if she were to have another child, she would have to give up tennis.
“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think its fair.
If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because Id be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family. Maybe Id be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”
Despite her plans for after tennis, she still has mixed feelings about retiring. She also added that she feels pain connected to it.
“I know its not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. Its the hardest thing that I could ever imagine.
I hate it. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. I keep saying to myself, I wish it could be easy for me, but its not. I’m torn: I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for whats next.”
When speaking about her legacy, she understands that as a woman and a woman of color, she has opened doors for so many athletes that have come after her.
“Id like to think that thanks to opportunities afforded to me, women athletes feel that they can be themselves on the court,” Williams wrote.
“They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They can be strong yet beautiful. They can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all.”