Serena Williams

Serena Williams has confirmed she will retire from tennis after a career that has seen her win 23 grand slam singles titles.

This week Williams is competing at the National Bank Open in Toronto, where on Monday she defeated Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 6-4 to win her first singles match since June 2021. In her lengthy, emotional essay in Vogue, Williams explained that, after injuring her hamstring at Wimbledon last year and taking a year away from the sport, she was unsure about ever returning. Williams made her singles return at Wimbledon in June, losing in the first round to France’s Harmony Tan. Over the course of a historic career that has spanned nearly three decades since its beginnings on the public courts of Compton, California, Williams has won an Open era record of 23 grand slam singles titles, earning a total of $94,588,910 in prize money and much more in endorsements. Williams has spent much of the past few years off the court preparing for the moment she decided to move on, including by setting up a venture capital company, Serena Ventures, and investing in various organisations. “I have never liked the word retirement,” she wrote.

Serena Williams said she is reluctant to admit she has to "move on from playing tennis," but the 23-time Grand Slam champion said "now the countdown has ...

Williams began her professional career in 1995 as a 14-year-old and has since become one of the greatest to ever play the sport, with 73 career singles titles, four Olympic gold medals and 319 weeks at No. 1. "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. She officially made her comeback in doubles at Eastbourne in June before returning in singles at Wimbledon the following week. "Unfortunately I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year," Williams said in the essay. Williams, 40, is currently playing at the Canadian Open, and won her first match in 14 months on Monday to advance to the second round. I know that a lot of people are excited about and look forward to retiring, and I really wish I felt that way."

The 23-time grand slam champion has given the strongest indication yet that she is ready to retire from the sport.

“But I’m turning 41 (in September), and something’s got to give.” “Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. I want to grow that family.” “I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote in a Vogue article. “A few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm.

Serena Williams says she has never liked the word retirement, but that she is evolving away from tennis after winning 23 Grand Slams across her iconic ...

"Maybe she doesn't have the record of 24, but what she's accomplished as well as her back story to achieve what she's achieved. "No question about it, she is the greatest male or female tennis player at the moment. I'm a fan of them and I want to say thank you to them." "Unfortunately I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year," she added in the article. "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. You talk about tennis to a black person and it's the Williams sisters, that's just what it is. I looked up to them and I still do. Williams noted that her and her partner Alexis are trying for another child, and that she did not want to be pregnant as an athlete again. "When I tell people in the neighbourhood 'I'm a tennis player' they're like 'oh so you're trying to do that Williams sister thing?'. They're a staple. "Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. "I've been reluctant to admit that I have to move on from playing tennis. 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.

The American is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. We take a look back at what has been a remarkable career.

Williams passed Graf’s Open era record with her 23rd grand slam singles title after her victory in Melbourne. Margaret Court’s overall record of 24, however, remains just out of reach. Another notable achievement came at the London Olympics in 2012 when she became the first player in history to win all four majors and the Olympics in both singles and doubles over the course of a career. Hingis had been the best player in the world until the rise of the Williams sisters, and the victory confirmed a new era had begun.

Williams' 23 Grand Slam singles titles is an Open Era record for women or men. The only tennis athlete with more major singles titles is Australia's Margaret ...

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Serena Williams says she is "evolving away from tennis" as she hinted at retiring from the sport she dominated for much of her career with 23 women's grand ...

I want to grow that family." "Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution. "It doesn't feel like a modern word to me.

Williams played on Monday only her second singles match since she returned to action at Wimbledon in June after a year-long absence from competition, beating ...

"I'm terrible at goodbyes, the world's worst. "Unfortunately I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year. "But now, the countdown has begun. "My goodness do I enjoy tennis. I want to grow that family." "Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution.

Arguably the best female tennis player in history, Serena Williams, is set to finish her career following the next grand slam in the United States. During a press conference on her home turf, the tennis steamroller stated her intent to move away from ...

I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out,” she confessed to Vogue. “I’ve been reluctant to admit that I have to move on from playing tennis. However, each day new stars are born, such as WTA’s number one Polish Iga Świątek. It is but a matter of time before new bold players get discovered. I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. It comes up, and I start to cry. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution.

Her record of 23 grand slam singles titles in the Open era stands alone but Williams' tennis legacy goes far beyond statistics.

After giving birth at the age of 36, she returned and eventually compiled a run of four grand slam finals in six events late in her 30s. It began with the turbulence of teenage success, a US Open champion at 17 in 1999, then the two and a half years it took for her to win a second. Less credited are Serena Williams’s other defining qualities; her intelligence, her court sense, her ability to problem-solve under suffocating pressure and find a solution on the court. Considering the number of setbacks that Williams has been forced to reckon with because of injury, depression and life‑threatening illness, her longevity is hard to believe. At the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant with her daughter, Alexis Olympia, Williams surpassed Graf to secure the Open-era record of a 23rd grand slam title. Seven years ago, as Serena Williams continued to consolidate her career records and her claims as the greatest of all time, a reporter asked her to identify the all-time record in her sights.

Williams played on Monday only her second singles match since she returned to action at Wimbledon in June after a year-long absence from competition, beating ...

"I'm terrible at goodbyes, the world's worst. "Unfortunately I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year. "But now, the countdown has begun. "My goodness do I enjoy tennis. I want to grow that family." "Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution.

Serena Williams sounded just the tiniest little bit salty as she reflected on likely finishing her tennis career with one less grand slam title than ...

I know it’s not the usual thing to say, but I feel a great deal of pain. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis resumé and building my family, I choose the latter.” “I know that a lot of people are excited about and look forward to retiring, and I really wish I felt that way,” Williams wrote. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. “But I didn’t get there. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record.

Serena Williams is "evolving away from tennis" and plans to retire from the sport she dominated with 23 grand slam titles following the US Open, which begins later this month. Williams played on Monday only her second singles match since she returned ...

"Unfortunately I wasn't ready to win Wimbledon this year. I want to grow that family." "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that record. "My goodness do I enjoy tennis. If I'm in a slam final, then yes, I'm thinking about that record. "Maybe the best word to describe what I'm up to is evolution.

Serena Williams made mention of Ash Barty as she announced her retirement from tennis. Read more here.

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Billie Jean King has described Serena Williams as tennis's 'greatest player' following the 23-time grand slam singles champion's announcement that she will ...

Paying her own tribute to Williams, Emma Raducanu, the US Open champion, said: “She definitely changed the game. Pam Shriver, the former world No 3, added: “She [Williams] has impacted tennis on the court and off the court. Speaking to USA Today, the former men’s world No 1, John McEnroe, said of Williams: “She should do whatever she wants.

The intense Sharapova rivalry that fired 'angry' Serena to the top of tennis.

“The book was a lot about me. You know, I was, like, ‘Oh, OK.’ I didn’t expect to be reading a book about me, that wasn’t necessarily true,” Williams said. “Especially having a daughter, I feel like negativity is taught. A teenage Sharapova stunned Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final to win her first grand slam, lighting the fire for the pair’s fierce rivalry. “It’s a Wimbledon final, you know. I think Serena hated me for being the skinny kid who beat her, against all odds, at Wimbledon.” The Russian too was driven by a cold-blooded thirst for silverware, admitting she didn’t have many friends on tour because she viewed all players as competitors to be beaten. I got out as quickly as I could, but she knew I was there. Their last meeting — a 6-1 6-1 demolition job at the 2019 US Open — sealed Williams’ remarkable 20-2 head-to-head record over Sharapova. I think it’s normal. People often wonder why I have had so much trouble beating Serena; she’s owned me in the past 10 years. “There were so many matches I won because something made me angry or someone counted me out.

Breaking up is hard to do. So, before the Serena show comes to an end on home turf at the US Open this month, relive all 23 of her grand slam titles.

“Even I didn’t expect to come in and win it all,” she said at the time. “I’m not done yet,” Williams said. “When I think of Paris, I don’t think about 20. “I think if you hold three grand slam titles maybe you should be No.1 but not on the WTA Tour obviously,” Serena said. It also took her to 18 career grand slam titles - level with some of the game’s biggest names. Williams missed three grand slam tournaments across 2010-11 due to a haematoma and pulmonary embolism and, having lost the 2011 US Open final to Sam Stosur, it would take two years to add to her tally. “I know I can win Wimbledon. I just love playing there; it’s such an easy tournament for me,” Williams said. “If you compete head-to-head, just trying to go at them the way they go at you, that’s going to be a losing proposition most of the time. After the tragedy of her sister Yetunde Price’s death in 2003 and injuries, Serena had missed the defence of her title in 2004 and dropped down the rankings. It’s four in a row - the calendar thing, that’s just a number,” said Navratilova at the time of Williams’ win. “It’s a little happiness and a sweet victory, but at least one of us won.” “A slam is a slam.