(NEW YORK) — Serena Williams has announced her professional tennis career is drawing to a close, and that the US Open could be her final tournament.
In an essay published Tuesday on Vogue.com, the tennis legend opened up about her hopes to grow her family with husband Alexis Ohanian, and how she has wrestled with the choice between career and family.
“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,” she said in the essay. “Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity. Don’t get me wrong: I love being a woman, and I loved every second of being pregnant with Olympia. …But I’m turning 41 this month, and something’s got to give.”
Williams achieved her last Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open, while pregnant with her daughter Olympia, who turns 5 next month, according to ESPN.
Securing her first match win in 14 months on Monday, Williams is currently competing at the Canadian Open. She has suggested she will taper off her tournament play with the Western & Southern Open next week and the US Open later this month.
The 23-Grand Slam title winner says she doesn’t like the word “retirement” and prefers to think of this as an “evolution” away from tennis toward other projects that are important to her.
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