Serena Williams hints at retirement, says she’s ‘getting away from tennis’

Serena Williams seems to be preparing to leave the professional tennis courts for good. The legendary athlete, who has won countless titles – including 23 Grand Slams – during a playing career that spans nearly three decades, has suggested she intends to take her retirement after the next US Open in a Vogue essay published on Tuesday.

Williams, 40, is currently playing at the Canadian Open, where she earned her first singles win in just over a year earlier this week, and will return to play another match on Wednesday. While continuing to compete against the world’s best athletes at tournaments like Wimbledon and last year’s French Open, Williams has also increasingly turned her attention to endeavors outside of tennis in recent years.

In her new essay, she said “getting away from tennis” would give her the opportunity to prioritize other things.

“I never liked the word retirement. That doesn’t sound like a modern word to me. I thought of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive to how I use this word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people,” she wrote. “May -be the best word to describe what i am up to evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, towards other things that are important to me.”

One of those priorities, she said, is Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm she started several years ago.

The other is her family and the hope of having another child with her husband Alexis Ohanian. Their daughter, Alexis Olympiais now 4 years old.

“I want to grow this family,” she wrote.

This is a developing story and will be updated.