Serena williams appears to have announced her retirement on instagram in an emotional post saying that she is evolving away from the sport after the US open writing for vogue magazine the american said that she was moving towards other things that are important to me adding that she does not like the word retirement the 23 times singles grand slam champion said there comes a time in life, when we have to decide to move in a different direction that time is always hard.
When you love something so much my goodness do i enjoy tennis but now the countdown has begun i have to focus on being a mum my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different but just exciting serena i'm going to relish these next few weeks widely recognized as one of the greatest players of all time serena williams has just won the national bank open in toronto.
Where, when we asked about what motivated her to carry on playing, she admitted that she could see a light at the end of the tunnel of her career i don't know i guess there's just a light at the tunnel what is that like i don't know i'm getting closer to the light so that's like lately that's been it for me i can't wait to get to that light.
"I know you're joking but can you? i'm not joking okay so then explain to me what what the light is to you what the light represents freedom i love playing though it's like it's amazing but you know it's like i can't do this forever so it's just like sometimes you just want to try your best to enjoy the moments and do the best that you can well in an accompanying, instagram post".
she wrote that the countdown has begun so it seems that she's hinting at it but hasn't explicitly said it the when is likely to be after the US open that starts at the end of the month serena williams is what the 23-time grand slam champion, so if she were to bow out that would be a fitting place to do it.
She's chasing margaret court's record of 24 grand slam titles she said look if i went to go to the US open to go to flushing meadows win my 24th grand slam equal margaret course record and then say see well what a way that would be to go so while she hasn't explicitly said she's going to retire the poster that she put on vogue has been quite cryptic saying.
"it's if i have to move on from tennis it's a taboo topic i 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 want to be sensitive about how i use that word which means something very specific and too important to a community of people, maybe the best word to describe what i'm doing is an evolution evolving away from tennis."
She also talks extensively about her family she says if she has to choose between building her tennis resume and building her family she would choose the latter so i think she also talked about the fact that when she won her last grand slam title in 2017 at the australian open she was two months pregnant with her daughter olympia and says that she doesn't want to be pregnant and be an athlete at the same time so maybe that is accelerating her decision-making.