Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, announced in an Instagram post Tuesday morning that she plans to bring her tennis career to an end in the near future following the 2022 U.S. Open.
Williams, who will turn 41 in September, said the “countdown has begun” to retirement, citing her family as the primary reason why she feels the end of her playing career is almost here.
“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,” Williams wrote on Instagram. “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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The post also revealed Williams will feature on the cover of Vogue’s September issue, with the cover story aptly titled “Serena’s Farewell.” The issue features a first-person essay on why she feels now is the right time to leave tennis.
“I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution,” she wrote. “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.”
Williams, who first burst onto the scene as a teenager with a victory at the 1999 U.S Open, will finish with at least 73 career singles titles, 23 career doubles titles and more than $94 million in career winnings. She also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era with 23, just one championship shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record.
Williams’s announcement comes less than 24 hours after she won her first match in more than a year in the first round of the National Bank Open, a U.S. Open tune-up tournament. She remains on the early entry list for the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, an event that she’s won six times.
However, if her final appearance on the court does in fact come under the lights in New York City, Williams made clear in the essay she doesn’t want her final match to come with too much fanfare.
“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.”
