Serena Williams announces Retirement from Tennis- Short Profile of Serena Williams

Praise to these people, but I’m going to be honest. There is no happiness in this topic for me. 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. I hate that I have to be at this crossroads. I keep saying to myself, I wish it could be easy for me, but it’s not. I’m torn: I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s next. 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. This sport has given me so much. I love to win. I love the battle. I love to entertain. I’m not sure every player sees it that way, but I love the performance aspect of it—to be able to entertain people week after week. Some of the happiest times in my life were spent waiting in that hallway in Melbourne, and walking out into Rod Laver Arena with my earphones in and trying to stay focused and drown out the noise but still feeling the energy of the crowd. Night matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows. Hitting an ace on set point.

My whole life, up to now, has been tennis. My dad says I first picked up a racket when I was three, but I think it was even earlier. There’s a picture of Venus pushing me in a stroller on a tennis court, and I couldn’t have been more than 18 months. Unlike Venus, who’s always been stoic and classy, I’ve never been one to contain my emotions. I remember learning to write my alphabet for kindergarten and not doing it perfectly and crying all night. I was so angry about it. I’d erase and rewrite that A over and over, and my mother let me stay up all night while my sisters were in bed. That’s always been me. I want to be great. I want to be perfect. I know perfect doesn’t exist, but whatever my perfect was, I never wanted to stop until I got it right.

To me that’s kind of the essence of being Serena: expecting the best from myself and proving people wrong. There were so many matches I won because something made me angry or someone counted me out. That drove me. I’ve built a career on channeling anger and negativity and turning it into something good. My sister Venus once said that when someone out there says you can’t do something, it is because they can’t do it. But I did do it. And so can you.

I started playing tennis with the goal of winning the U.S. Open. I didn’t think past that. And then I just kept winning. I remember when I passed Martina Hingis’s grand slam count. Then Seles’s. And then I tied Billie Jean King, who is such an inspiration for me because of how she has pioneered gender equality in all sports. Then it was climbing over the Chris Evert–Martina Navratilova mountain. There are people who say I’m not the GOAT because I didn’t pass Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles, which she achieved before the “open era” that began in 1968. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that record. Obviously I do. But day to day, I’m really not thinking about her. If I’m in a grand slam final, then yes, I am thinking about that record. Maybe I thought about it too much, and that didn’t help. The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus grand slams. I had my chances after coming back from giving birth. I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.

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Earlier in my career, I never thought about having kids. There were times when I’ve wondered if I should ever bring kids into this world, with all its problems. I was never that confident or comfortable around babies or children, and I figured that if I ever did have a baby, I would have people taking care of it 24/7. I’m not going to lie—I definitely have a lot of support. But I’m also an incredibly hands-on mother. My husband will tell you I am too hands-on. In five years, Olympia has only spent one 24-hour period away from me. This past year, while I was recovering from a hamstring injury, I got to pick her up from school four or five days a week, and I always looked forward to seeing her face light up when she walked out of the building and saw me waiting there for her. The fact is that nothing is a sacrifice for me when it comes to Olympia. It all just makes sense. I want to teach her how to tie her shoes, how to read, where babies come from, and about God. Just like my mom taught me. As she grows, it’s something different every month. Lately she’s been into watching baking shows, which we do together. Now we bake with Play-Doh, which is so much fun. She loves this game called The Floor Is Lava, where you have to do whatever you can to avoid touching the ground. I love setting up my gym for the game, arranging my step-up boxes and weight machines like an obstacle course. Whatever she likes, I like.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 33 (23–10)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponents	Score
Win	1999	US Open	Hard	Martina Hingis	6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Loss	2001	US Open	Hard	Venus Williams	2–6, 4–6
Win	2002	French Open	Clay	Venus Williams	7–5, 6–3
Win	2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Venus Williams	7–6(7–4), 6–3
Win	2002	US Open (2)	Hard	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–3
Win	2003	Australian Open	Hard	Venus Williams	7–6(7–4), 3–6, 6–4
Win	2003	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Venus Williams	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	2004	Wimbledon	Grass	Maria Sharapova	1–6, 4–6
Win	2005	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
Win	2007	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6–1, 6–2
Loss	2008	Wimbledon	Grass	Venus Williams	5–7, 4–6
Win	2008	US Open (3)	Hard	Jelena Janković	6–4, 7–5
Win	2009	Australian Open (4)	Hard	Dinara Safina	6–0, 6–3
Win	2009	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Venus Williams	7–6(7–3), 6–2
Win	2010	Australian Open (5)	Hard	Justine Henin	6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Win	2010	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Vera Zvonareva	6–3, 6–2
Loss	2011	US Open	Hard	Samantha Stosur	2–6, 3–6
Win	2012	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Agnieszka Radwańska	6–1, 5–7, 6–2
Win	2012	US Open (4)	Hard	Victoria Azarenka	6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Win	2013	French Open (2)	Clay	Maria Sharapova	6–4, 6–4
Win	2013	US Open (5)	Hard	Victoria Azarenka	7–5, 6–7(6–8), 6–1
Win	2014	US Open (6)	Hard	Caroline Wozniacki	6–3, 6–3
Win	2015	Australian Open (6)	Hard	Maria Sharapova	6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win	2015	French Open (3)	Clay	Lucie Šafářová	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 6–2
Win	2015	Wimbledon (6)	Grass	Garbiñe Muguruza	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2016	Australian Open	Hard	Angelique Kerber	4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss	2016	French Open	Clay	Garbiñe Muguruza	5–7, 4–6
Win	2016	Wimbledon (7)	Grass	Angelique Kerber	7–5, 6–3
Win	2017	Australian Open (7)	Hard	Venus Williams	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2018	Wimbledon	Grass	Angelique Kerber	3–6, 3–6
Loss	2018	US Open	Hard	Naomi Osaka	2–6, 4–6
Loss	2019	Wimbledon	Grass	Simona Halep	2–6, 2–6
Loss	2019	US Open	Hard	Bianca Andreescu	3–6, 5–7

Women’s doubles: 14 (14–0)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1999	French Open	Clay	Venus Williams	Martina Hingis  Anna Kournikova	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 8–6
Win	1999	US Open	Hard	Venus Williams	Chanda Rubin  Sandrine Testud	4–6, 6–1, 6–4
Win	2000	Wimbledon	Grass	Venus Williams	Julie Halard-Decugis  Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–2
Win	2001	Australian Open	Hard	Venus Williams	Lindsay Davenport  Corina Morariu	6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Win	2002	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual  Paola Suárez	6–2, 7–5
Win	2003	Australian Open (2)	Hard	Venus Williams	Virginia Ruano Pascual  Paola Suárez	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win	2008	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Venus Williams	Lisa Raymond  Samantha Stosur	6–2, 6–2
Win	2009	Australian Open (3)	Hard	Venus Williams	Daniela Hantuchová  Ai Sugiyama	6–3, 6–3
Win	2009	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Venus Williams	Samantha Stosur  Rennae Stubbs	7–6(7–4), 6–4
Win	2009	US Open (2)	Hard	Venus Williams	Cara Black  Liezel Huber	6–2, 6–2
Win	2010	Australian Open (4)	Hard	Venus Williams	Cara Black  Liezel Huber	6–4, 6–3
Win	2010	French Open (2)	Clay	Venus Williams	Květa Peschke  Katarina Srebotnik	6–2, 6–3
Win	2012	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Venus Williams	Andrea Hlaváčková  Lucie Hradecká	7–5, 6–4
Win	2016	Wimbledon (6)	Grass	Venus Williams	Tímea Babos  Yaroslava Shvedova	6–3, 6–4

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Mixed doubles: 4 (2–2)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1998	French Open	Clay	Luis Lobo	Justin Gimelstob  Venus Williams	4–6, 4–6
Win	1998	Wimbledon	Grass	Max Mirnyi	Mahesh Bhupathi  Mirjana Lučić	6–4, 6–4
Win	1998	US Open	Hard	Max Mirnyi	Patrick Galbraith  Lisa Raymond	6–2, 6–2
Loss	1999	Australian Open	Hard	Max Mirnyi	David Adams  Mariaan de Swardt	4–6, 6–4, 6–7(5–7)

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Records

Williams has achieved a record 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hard court. She carries the Open Era record for most women’s singles titles at the Australian Open and shares the Open Era record for most titles won at the US Open with Chris Evert. She also carries the records for the most women’s singles matches won at majors and the most singles majors won since turning 30 years old. She is the sole tennis player, male or female, to win three of the four Grand Slams at least 6 times. She is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division.

In doubles, the Williams sisters have the third most women’s doubles Grand Slam titles, behind the 18 titles of Natasha Zvereva (14 with Gigi Fernández) and the record 20 titles achieved by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Serena and Venus are the only tennis players in history with four Olympic gold medals (three in women’s doubles together and one each in singles), and to achieve Olympic gold in the same event on three events. They are the only Open Era women tennis players to achieve Olympic Gold in both the singles and doubles categories. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Serena Williams became the third player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at one Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody at the 1924 Summer Olympics and Venus at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Williams is the sole player, male or female, to attain a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles.

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Filmography

Williams as a child, her early training, and relationship with her sister Venus and family are portrayed in the 2021 feature movie King Richard, which is targeted especially on Venus’s teenage transformation into a professional tennis player.

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	The Simpsons	Herself (voice)	Episode: “Tennis the Menace”
2002	My Wife and Kids	Miss Wiggins	Episode: “Crouching Mother, Hidden Father”
2003	Street Time	Meeka Hayes	Episode: “Fly Girl”
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Chloe Spiers	Episode: “Brotherhood”
2004	The Division	Jennifer Davis	Episode: “Lost and Found”
2004	Hair Show	Agent Ross
2005	Higglytown Heroes	Snowplow Driver Hero (voice)	Episode: “Higgly Hoedown/Eubie’s Turbo Sled”
2005	ER	Alice Watson	Episode: “Two Ships “
2005	All of Us	Herself	Episode: “Not So Wonderful News”
2005	America’s Next Top Model	Herself	Episode: “The Girl with the Worst Photo in History”
2005–2007	Punk’d	Herself	3 episodes
2007	Loonatics Unleashed	Queen Athena (voice)	Episode: “Apocalypso”
2007	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Ming (voice)	Episode: “The Day of Black Sun: Part 1 – The Invasion”
2006	The Bernie Mac Show	Herself	Episode: “Spinning Wheels”
2008	The Game	Herself	Episode: “The List Episode”
2008	MADtv	Herself / Black Racket	Episode: “Episode 7”
2011	Keeping Up with the Kardashians	Herself	Episode: “Kim’s Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event – Part 2”
2012	Drop Dead Diva	Kelly Stevens	Episode: “Rigged”
2012	Venus and Serena	Herself
2013	The Legend of Korra	Female Sage (voice)	Episode: “Beginnings, Part 1”
2015	7 Days in Hell	Herself
2015	Pixels	Herself	Cameo Appearance
2016	Lemonade music video	Herself	Cameo Appearance in “Sorry”
2016	Serena: The Other Side of Greatness	Herself	Documentary
2018	Ocean’s 8	Herself	Cameo Appearance
2018	Being Serena	Herself	Documentary