Why is Serena Williams retiring? Family, off-court ventures at forefront of tennis GOAT’s exit following US Open

At some point in the coming weeks at the US Open, Serena Williams will take the tennis court for the final time in her prestigious, all-time great career. 

While she has yet to utter the words “I’m retiring,” Williams said as much in a recent tell-all story in Vogue, in which she detailed her life and her dislike of the word “retirement,” instead opting to “evolve” away from the tennis court.

“There is no happiness in this topic for me,” Williams said. “I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. It’s the hardest thing that I could ever imagine. I hate it.”

Williams said that stepping away is a truly brutal experience, saying that while other tennis players have had a sense of relief or joy in retiring, it has not been the same for her, as she has been agonizing over leaving her tennis racket behind.

“I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s next,” Williams wrote. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to look at this magazine when it comes out, knowing that this is it, the end of a story that started in Compton, California, with a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis.”

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Williams’ non-commitment on her tennis future following her first-round Wimbledon exit cast doubt over what was next in her career.

Now, 23 years after she won her first grand slam title at the US Open, Williams is calling it a career. Here’s why:

Why is Serena Williams retiring?

In her Vogue piece, Williams cited two primary reasons for stepping away from tennis: her focus on family, and her “shifting balance” toward Serena Ventures, her investment firm.

Williams wrote that she and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, have intentions to expand their family, but she solely wants to put focus on her family and its growth first instead of continuing to split her time with tennis.

In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and 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. I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.

Famously, Williams was two months pregnant when she won the 2017 Australian Open, eventually beating her sister Venus in straight sets to capture her 23rd grand slam title.

Williams has said that the subject of retirement is something of “taboo” between she and her husband.

“I can’t even have this conversation with my mom and dad. It’s like it’s not real until you say it out loud. It comes up, I get an uncomfortable lump in my throat, and I start to cry,” she wrote.

Aside from her family, Williams also says that she’s focused more on Serena Ventures, as well. 

Serena Williams grand slam titles

Williams has 73 career tournament wins, including 23 grand slam tournament victories, in her career.

Williams holds the record for most grand slam titles in the Open Era (since 1968), and trails only Margaret Court (24) for most grand glam tournament victories ever. 

Here’s a career timeline of her singles slam wins: