Ahead of her 41st birthday, 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams announced in an Instagram post Tuesday that she plans to bring her tennis career to an end.
Williams, who will turn 41 in September, said that the “countdown has begun” to retirement, citing her family as the primary reason for why she feels that the end of her playing career is almost here.
Williams will focus on being a mum and achieve her spiritual growth. She wrote, “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 mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena. I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.”
Williams caught global attention as a teenager with a victory at the 1999 U.S Open.
She will finish her career with at least 73 career singles titles, 23 career doubles titles, and over $94 million in career earnings. She also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era with 23, just one championship shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record.
Her announcement comes less than 24 hours after she won her first match in over a year in the first round of the National Bank Open, a U.S. Open tune-up tournament. She remains on the early entry list for the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, an event that she’s won six times.