Serena Williams will hit her last tennis balls at the US Open.
The famous athlete announced in an article for Vogue published Tuesday that she will retire from tennis after the annual tournament to focus on building her family. She and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, share 4-year-old daughter Olympia.
“But if I have to choose between building my tennis resume and building my family these days, I’ll choose the latter,” she wrote in her personal essay.
Williams, 40, who is not yet pregnant with their second child, wrote that she wants one, but only after her athlete days are behind her.
“Over the past year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and recently we received information from my doctor that reassured me and made me feel that when we are ready, we can expand our family,” she said. explained.
“I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I have to be two feet in tennis or two feet out.”
Williams, who won her first match in more than a year at the National Open in Toronto on Monday, confirmed she would play at the US Open in Queens later this month, although she admitted she doesn’t know if she will walk away victorious. .
“Unfortunately I was not ready to win Wimbledon this year. And I don’t know if I’ll be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try,” she wrote.
That will be her last grand slam event. William has won 23 Grand Slam titles.
Despite focusing on her and her family’s future, Williams admitted that she dreaded life after her time on the Flushing Meadows courts.
“There is no luck in this subject for me. I know it’s not customary to say, but I feel a lot of pain,” she said. “It’s the hardest thing I can ever imagine. I hate it. I hate being at this crossroads.
“I keep saying to myself: I wish it was easy for me, but it isn’t. I’m torn: I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s to come.”