'I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”
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Legendary tennis champion Serena Williams has announced her plans to “evolve” into a new stage of her life and leave competitive tennis after this year’s U.S. Open. The 40-year-old athlete wrote in an essay for“I have never liked the word“It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. 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.
Williams explained that her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, began a few years ago and she plans to spend more of her energy and time with its development. It became even more important to her after she realized only two percent of VC money is given to women-led projects.“I kind of understood then and there that someone who looks like me needs to start writing the big checks,” she wrote.
The trophy winner also says she her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, are planning to add to their family. They currently have one daughter, 4-year-old Olympia. Williams says that the decision between tennis and a family is a tough one, and one she doesn’t think her male counterparts would face.“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” Williams explained, after saying Olympia has been asking for a baby sister. “I don’t think it’s fair.