Serena Williams announces retirement from tennis in emotional letter
By Brian Cummins
Serena Williams, American professional tennis player, has just announced her retirement from tennis via a personal letter published by Vogue.
The 23-time grand slam champion goes into great detail on why she is planning on leaving tennis, with the US open most likely being her last tournament.
She begins the interview with a very touching story. “Sometimes before bed, she [Olympia, her daughter] prays to Jehovah to bring her a baby sister. (She doesn’t want anything to do with a boy!) I’m 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.”
She continues with a moving explanation of how much she loved being pregnant with her daughter and that she “was two months pregnant when [she] won the Australian Open in 2017.” It truly shows how much of a passion and commitment she has to the sport.
“I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she tells Vogue, “I started a family. I want to grow that family.”
It’s hard to fathom the difficulty this decision has for her. She explains that she needs to choose one or the other. “I’m turning 41 this month, and something’s got to give…I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out,” she said, adding, “if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.”
Although her professional sporting career is coming to an end, Serena has not left the court without making a massive impression on the world. “I’d like to think that thanks to me, women athletes can be themselves. They can play with aggression and pump their fists. They can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all,” the 40-year-old mum confessed.
The tennis icon has officially announced that she is trying for a second child. “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.”
Hopefully this means we’ll be getting some baby news in the near future! We can’t wait to see how Serena’s journey of life will play out from here.
