Aug 9 (Reuters) – Serena Williams said on Tuesday she is “moving away from tennis”, while hinting at her retirement from the sport she dominated for much of her career with 23 Grand Slam singles titles.
On Monday, the 40-year-old American tennis player played her second singles match since returning to the courts at Wimbledon in June after a year-long absence, beating Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz to advance to the second round of the US Open. Toronto.
Serena achieved her last Grand Slam in 2017 and has been chasing an elusive 24th crown that would equal her with Margaret Court, who holds the majors record.
“I have never liked the word retired,” Williams wrote in a Vogue article. “It doesn’t seem like a modern word to me. I’ve thought 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.”
“Perhaps the best word to describe what I’m doing is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, towards other things that are important to me,” he added.
“A few years ago I quietly founded Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm. Soon after, I started a family. I want to grow that family,” he said.
Serena later referred to a post on Instagram that it was time to move in a “different direction.”
“That moment is always hard when you love something so much,” he said. “My God, I like tennis.”
“But now the countdown has begun. I must focus on being a mother, on my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different, but just as exciting, Serena. I’m going to enjoy the next few weeks,” she said. (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)
