Serena Williams announces plans to retire to have another baby: “If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this…”
Serena 'hates' having to choose between tennis and growing her family.
Tennis champion Serena Williams has announced her plans to retire after the US Open in September and focus on growing her family.
In a self-penned article for Vogue magazine, the 40-year-old revealed that she and her husband Alexis Ohanian had been trying for a second child over the past year and it was unfair that she had to chose between tennis and having a family.
The couple share five-year-old daughter Olympia.
Serena Williams has announced her plans to retire from tennis.
Announcing her plans to leave the tennis world, Serena wrote:
“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.”
Serena says her five-year-old Olympia is desperate to be a big sister.
Serena continued on saying the decision has been both painful and unfair.
“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” she wrote.
“I don’t think it’s fair. 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. But I’m turning 41 this month, and something’s got to give.”
“We recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we’re ready, we can add to our family,” she wrote. “I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.”
Serena said she wishes she could look forward to retiring like Ash Barty but she hates having to think about it.
Before finishing up on the court, the tennis great said she will give it one last shot at equalling Court’s record at Flushing Meadows at the end of the month, where she is already a six-time champion.
“I don’t know if I will be ready to win in New York, but I’m going to try”.
That will be her last grand slam event. Serena has won 23 grand slam titles in her incredible career.
