Tennis legend Serena Williams has faced many a bitter battle in her life, both on and off the courts, be it the brutal training regimen she faced at the hands of her father-turned-coach, who fought off gang members so his daughters could train for victory on their local Compton courts, or the near-fatal medical complications she suffered after giving birth to her first-born child Olympia.
But it seems the GOAT has finally been faced with a challenge she cannot fight her way through: balancing her long-fought-for tennis career with her dreams of expanding her family.
After years of speculation about when – or if – she would ever retire from the sport that turned her into an international icon, Serena – who turns 41 later this month – finally announced that she is preparing to set down her racket once and for all.
In typical fashion for the woman who has repeatedly refused to conform to rules or regulations, earning herself a reputation for being something of a rebel on the courts, retirement is a word she refuses to use, instead insisting that she is simply ‘evolving’ beyond the sport in order to focus on a new set of goals: expanding her family and her lucrative endeavors away from the courts.
‘I have never liked the word retirement,’ she wrote in an essay for the September issue of Vogue – on which she appears as the cover star. ‘It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me… Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution.
‘I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.’
Still, while she is effectively throwing in the towel on her tennis career Serena is not going down without a fight – quite the opposite in fact – with the sporting star even using her retirement announcement to blast the ongoing gender disparity in sport while making clear her own feelings about her position as an athlete by comparing herself to Tom Brady.
‘I don’t think it’s fair,’ she said of her decision to retire. ‘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.’
Admitting defeat is – in her own words – a ‘painful’ and ‘unhappy’ experience, particularly for a woman who has spent her life fighting it out for the sake of her sporting success, even as a child, when she was training under her father Richard, who famously fought off gang members to clear the courts for Serena and her sister Venus, made his daughters step over broken glass during a training session, and would repeatedly scream curse words at them to improve their mental strength.
After more than 25 impressive years leading the sport, Serena Williams has announced she is stepping away from tennis at age 41, and as she gears up to say farewell to the sport, FEMAIL has recapped her supersonic rise to tennis fame
‘I have never liked the word retirement,’ she wrote in an essay for Vogue. ‘It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me… Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis’
The sports star grew up in Compton, California, where her father had to fight off gang members so that she and her sister, Venus Williams, could use the local tennis courts. She is seen with her dad and sister in 1991
From overcoming poverty to her father’s intense training regimens, take a look back at Serena’s impressive career from start to finish – in honor of her preparing to close the tennis chapter in her life once and for all
That fighting spirit is something that has remained a constant throughout Serena’s career – whether she was arguing with umpires over their decisions, or engaging in a fashion war with the French Open officials after her choice of skintight black catsuit was deemed unsuitable for the tournament.
Her unwavering determination to reach the top of the sport was rewarded both on the court, with trophies, number one world rankings, prize money, and off, where she established herself as one of the most famous women in the world while amassing a fortune with endorsement deals, ad campaigns, and several of her own businesses.
That life of excess and extravagance could not be further away from Serena’s incredibly humble beginnings however, with the sporting star rising from a life of extreme poverty to one of extraordinary wealth – which will no doubt now increase as she turns her hand from her racket to her other money-making endeavors, including her newly-established venture capital firm Serena Ventures.
There remains, however, one major on-court challenge left for Serena to face.
Will she be able to go out with the same bang that she first entered the sport with 25 years ago, when she makes what many believe will be her final Grand Slam appearance at the US Open next month – her final opportunity to prove that she remains at the top of her game, despite a spate of recent loses?
The tournament will be likely be Serena’s last chance to go out swinging and winning – and cap off a career that has began with a fight to rise above her rough start in life, and may well end in a desperate battle to retain her GOAT status.
Inside Serena’s childhood: How her dad fought off gang members and made his daughters step over broken glass to become the tennis players they are today
Serena was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, however, she and her family moved to Compton – a Los Angeles suburb that was once synonymous with crime – when she was young. She is seen in 1991
It was their dad, Richard Williams (seen with Serena in 1991), who sparked Serena and Venus’ love for tennis. It’s been reported that only became interested in it himself after noticing that there was a $40,000 prize for the winner
Serena was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, however, she and her family moved to Compton – a Los Angeles suburb that was once synonymous with crime – when she was young.
It was their dad, Richard Williams, who sparked Serena and Venus’ love for tennis, and according to Biography.com, he only became interested in it himself after watching a match on TV and noticing that there was a $40,000 prize for the winner. Richard soon immersed himself in the game in his mission to propel his daughters to on-court success.
However, living in Compton posed a problem for the dedicated father, who was determined to turn Serena and Venus into pro athletes, since the area was riddled with gangs who wouldn’t let the Williams sisters use the local tennis courts.
He spent years feuding with the gangs in an attempt to gain access to the courts, and he once got into a physical altercation with some of them that was so brutal, it left him with numerous broken ribs and 10 teeth knocked out.
‘It had taken two years and almost destroyed my body and my spirit,’ he wrote in his 2014 memoir, Black and White: The Way I See It, about eventually gaining control of the courts. ‘But in that moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was the courts were ours.’
Serena started playing tennis at age three, and her father was very hard on her, often yelling mean things at her and her sister in an attempt to strengthen them.
Richard spent years feuding with local gangs in an attempt to gain access to the town’s tennis courts, and he once got into a physical altercation that was so brutal, it left him with numerous broken ribs and 10 teeth knocked out. Serena is seen in 1991
Serena (seen in 1990) later recalled having to work harder than her sister at first, due to her smaller size. She said: ‘I think that taught me how to be mentally tough because Venus used to win her matches really fast and I would be out there grinding’
‘In order to be successful you must prepare for the unexpected – and I wanted to prepare for that,’ he told CNN later. ‘Criticism can bring the best out of you. Criticism is one of the greatest things, I think, that we’ve been trained to live through.’
Serena told Uninterrupted’s Kneading Dough that while she grew up in poverty – sharing a two bedroom house with her parents and six siblings – she never ‘felt broke.’
‘I never ever, ever felt broke. Looking back, I’m like, “Wow.” We lived in a two-bedroom house with seven people,’ she said.
‘I don’t know how my parents were able to make me feel that way, but they did, and it was special. So I never felt when I came into money that I needed to go buy this because I never wanted anything. So it was a great way.’
Richard’s determination to turn his daughters into star tennis players inspired the 2021 Academy Award winning movie King Richard, which starred Will Smith and Jon Bernthal.
By the time she was nine, the family decided to relocate again to West Palm Beach, Florida, so that Serena and Venus could train with acclaimed tennis coach Rick Macci.
‘What blew me away about Venus and Serena was the burning desire,’ Rick told the Palm Beach Post about working with the sisters in 2017. ‘Almost like, “I got to get every ball, I’m not letting anything get past me.”‘
Rick recalled their father pushing them by going out of his way to make their training more difficult.
‘Half the time he wouldn’t want new balls, he would use bad balls so the girls would have to run faster and bend lower,’ he explained. ‘He’d throw a beer bottle in the back of the court just so there’d be broken glass.’
Serena’s former coach, Rick Macci recalled their father pushing them by going out of his way to make their training more difficult, claiming he threw broken glass onto the court once. Serena is seen with her dad in 1991
