In recent years, she has become a venture capitalist, creating Serena Ventures, which invests in early stage ideas and companies, many in technology and run by women.īeyond all the championships - Williams has won 73 singles titles, 23 in doubles, two in mixed doubles and has played on four Olympic teams, winning four gold medals - her impact on how the world perceives female athletes and inspiring the younger Black girls who now lead American women’s tennis may be her greatest legacies. She was an executive producer of “King Richard,” the Oscar-winning film about her family that focused on how her father took two girls from Compton, Calif., to the pinnacle of sports. She has frequently helped design her tennis outfits. Williams has won nearly $100 million in prize money, but her tennis career has hardly prevented her from pursuing her other interests. Williams won her last Grand Slam tournament title while she was pregnant during the Australian Open in 2017. “I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.” “I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete,” she said. quarterback Tom Brady, could continue to compete while their female spouses had children. She expressing envy that some male athletes, like the 45-year-old N.F.L. Williams wrote that she and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, planned to have another child, though she lamented the choice between another child and her tennis career. She showed flashes of the power and touch that had once made her nearly unbeatable, but lacked the fitness and match toughness that comes from being a regular on the WTA Tour. Īt Wimbledon, she played a spirited but inconsistent three-hour, first-round match, losing to Harmony Tan of France, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7). She did not immediately take his advice but eventually began hitting and signed up for the doubles competition at a grass court tournament ahead of Wimbledon. In the Vogue story, she stated that Tiger Woods persuaded her to commit to training hard for two weeks and see what transpired. This spring though, Williams said she had the urge to play competitively again. In fact, Shriver and others thought it was likely that Williams might never officially retire but would instead continue the existence that she assumed for months following her teary Wimbledon exit. The injury sidelined her for nearly a year.

Williams’s tennis future has been in doubt since she was forced to retire minutes into her first-round match at Wimbledon last year after she tore her hamstring.

“It feels like the right exclamation point, the right ending,” said Pam Shriver, the former player and tennis commentator who was one of the great doubles champions of the 1980s.

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