Serena Williams’ Retirement: The Story Behind Her Final US Open!

Is it true that a goat is retiring from their sport? Well, that would seem to be the case. In fact, if not the whole deal, that is. You see, Serena Williams is without a doubt the goat of women's tennis, and very much a contender for the sport of tennis as a whole. Due to her absolute domination on the various courts of play, she won a lot of majors, many more tournaments as a whole, and between her and her sister Venus, they changed the game of tennis forever. Yet, despite all that, She has decided that it's time for her to step away. We'll tell you what she said. The retirement notice. Serena Williams has announced that she will evolve away from tennis after this year's U.S. Open to focus on other things that are important to me. In an article in Vogue, the 23-time Grand Slam winner said that, although she will try to win at the U.S. Open, it is time for her to move in a different direction. There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction. Williams posted on Instagram with a picture of herself on the cover of Vogue with the title, Serena's Farewell, I'm Terrible at Goodbyes. That time is always hard when you love something so much. My goodness, do I enjoy tennis. But now, the countdown has begun. I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different but just exciting Serena. I'm going to relish these next few weeks. The announcement comes a day after the 40-year-old won her first singles match in 430 days. She played her first singles match in over a year at Wimbledon in June, losing to France's Harmony Tan. Afterwards, she hinted that she could play on home soil at the U.S. Open, which begins August 29th. So, at the time of this writing, her final tournament hasn't started yet. But don't tell Serena she's retiring. Apparently, she's not a fan of that word. Other things to do. In the article, Williams said, I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn't feel like a modern word to me. I've been thinking 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. 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. She continued. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year, and I don't know if I will be ready to win in New York. But I'm going to try. Since losing her professional debut in September 1995, Williams has become the most dominant force in women's tennis in the last 30 years. Together with her older sister Venus, the Williams sisters transformed the sport, making a regular habit of winning Grand Slams in both singles and doubles tennis. At the time of this writing, Serena had won 73 career single titles, 23 doubles titles, and two mixed doubles titles, which include 39 Grand Slam titles, 23 single titles, 14 doubles titles, and two mixed doubles titles. She is one singles Grand Slam title behind the all-time record held by Australian Margaret Court. When asked by CNN's Christiane Amanpour earlier this year if she still wanted to beat Court's record, she replied, I should have had it already. I really should have. I've had many opportunities to have it, but I'm not giving up, to answer your question. She addressed this later in Vogue, saying, I know there's a fan fantasy that I might have tied Margaret 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. The four-time Olympic gold medalist has won over $94.5 million in career prize money, more than any other female athlete, which says nothing of the no-doubt millions upon millions of dollars she's earned via her endorsement deals. She's been one of the top people for Gatorade, Nike, and various other clothing lines. She even became famous in later years for the outfit she would wear to her matches. No doubt some of those collaborations will continue into her next phase. Family Away from the court, Williams announced her engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2016, giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. And focusing on her young family as well as her interests away from tennis is why she's deciding to step away from the game she has changed forever. Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don't think it's fair, Williams explained. 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. 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. I was one of those women who adored being pregnant and was working until the day I had to report to the hospital. Although things got super complicated on the other side, and I almost did do the impossible, a lot of people don't realize that I was two months pregnant when I won the Australian Open in 2017. But I'm turning 41 this month and something's got to give, which sadly is something that people have noticed. Meaning that a lot of people have noticed that while Serena may be better than a lot of women out there in tennis right now despite being 41, she's clearly lost the edge that helped her win so many titles. It happens to every athlete eventually and she's definitely getting ahead of the curve before she becomes the falling star athlete like many before her the star also admitted she doesn't like to think about her legacy i get asked about it a lot and i never know exactly what to say but i'd like to think that thanks to opportunities afforded to me women athletes feel that they can be themselves on the court they can play with aggression and pump their fists they can be strong yet beautiful they can wear what they want and say what they want and kick butt and be proud of it all over the years i hope that people come to think of of me as symbolizing something bigger than tennis. U.S. Open. Williams' career will come full circle as her final match is to be played at the site of the first of her 23 Grand Slam singles wins, the 1999 U.S. Open. Then just a teenager, Williams burst onto the scene to stun world number one Martina Hingis in the final and lay the first stepping stone on her path to two decades of dominance. If I could just pick one thing that she possesses incredibly strongly compared to other players and champions, it's a strong determination to go through difficult stages and to win no matter what, year after year. Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open men's champion, told CNN Sport, I'm hoping that she's going to have a fantastic U.S. Open and to give the best farewell is to go with the wind, so I'm hoping that she can do it. In terms of overall story, that would be one heck of a way to go out. Not unlike fellow GOAT Michael Jordan going out the first two times from the NBA after winning championships we don't mention the third time but whether she can do that is honestly up to her impact but going back to what she said before the true legacy of Serena Williams and her sister Venus too is the impact that she slash they had on women's sports as a whole they made tennis must watch at times because of how good they were and they wanted to see how far these two could go serena is very easily an inspiration to young female athletes to come from nothing and want to be in sports. That was the journey of her and her sister, as shown in the movie King Richard, and they got draped in gold because they pushed through. So no matter how the U.S. Open goes, Serena can hold her head up high and say she did more than anyone ever expected her to do. So what do you think? What do you think of this look at the retirement declaration by Serena Williams and why she is leaving tennis? Do you find it sad that she's leaving after all she's done for the sport? What is your personal favorite moment or victory with Serena? And will there ever be one who can match up to what she did? Let us know in the comments below, and we'll see you next time on the channel!