Serena Williams has confirmed she will retire from tennis after a career that has seen her win 23 grand slam singles titles.
The 40-year-old broke the news in an article for Vogue published on Tuesday.
“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote. “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m 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.”
Williams said her decision had been influenced by the desire to expand her family. She gave birth to her first child, Olympia, in 2017.
“I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair,” Williams wrote. “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 labor of expanding our family.”
In the article, Williams suggested her final tournament will be the US Open, which starts later this month and runs through to the start of September.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year,” she wrote. “And I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try. And the lead-up tournaments will be fun. I know there’s a fan fantasy that I might have tied Margaret [Court’s grand slam record] that day in London, then maybe beat her record in New York, and then at the trophy ceremony say, ‘See ya!’ I get that. It’s a good fantasy. But I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment. I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst.”
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Williams and her sister Venus burst on to the tennis scene as teenagers, shaking up what had been a traditionally white sport. Between them, they won 30 grand slam singles titles. They also combined to win 14 major doubles titles. Serena won her last grand slam title at the Australian Open in 2017. She has struggled with injuries in recent years and was beaten in the first round of this summer’s Wimbledon by Harmony Tan.
