As Serena Williams takes the next step in her career to “evolve away from tennis,” announcing on Tuesday that she plans to retire after playing in this year’s U.S. Open, she and husband Alexis Ohanian want to have another child.
“In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child, and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we’re ready, we can add to our family,” Williams wrote in “Vogue” in a candid first-person essay. “I definitely don’t want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out.”
Williams, who’s on the cover of the September issue of “Vogue,” told the magazine that she wants to spend more time with her husband and their 4-year-old daughter, Olympia, who has been telling her parents that she wants to be a big sister.
“We’re in my car, and she’s holding my phone, using an interactive educational app she likes,” Williams said about her daughter, who turns 5 this month. “This robot voice asks her a question: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ She doesn’t know I’m listening, but I can hear the answer she whispers into the phone. She says, ‘I want to be a big sister.'”
The 23-time grand slam winner explained that her desire to “grow [her] family” has now become her priority over tennis, which she seems to be at peace with.
“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,” Williams wrote, seemingly referring to her near-death experience with a blood clot in her lungs shortly after the birth of her daughter.
“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,” said Williams, who noted that she was two months pregnant when she won the Australian Open in 2017.
Williams’ decision to pivot away from tennis was also fueled in part by a conversation she had with her friend, Tiger Woods, who told her to “be a beast the same way he is!”
Williams did admit that her approach to announcing the end of her tennis career might’ve been different if she “were a guy,” such as Tom Brady.
“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair,” she asserted. “If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family. Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.
“Don’t get me wrong: I love being a woman, and I loved every second of being pregnant with Olympia. I was one of those annoying women who adored being pregnant and was working until the day I had to report to the hospital — although things got super complicated on the other side.”
The seven-time Super Bowl winner, Brady announced his return for another NFL season (his 23rd) in a March, following a brief 40-day retirement — in which he spent time with his wife Gisele and their children: daughter Vivian, 9, son Benjamin, 12, and 14-year-old son Jack, whom Brady shares with ex Bridget Moynahan.
Ultimately, Williams plans to call it a career on the court after the U.S. Open, which will take place later this month through Sept. 11 in Flushing.
“But I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment,” she said. “I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst. But please know that I am more grateful for you than I can ever express in words. You have carried me to so many wins and so many trophies. I’m going to miss that version of me, that girl who played tennis. And I’m going to miss you.”
