Serena Williams has announced that she is retiring from professional tennis, indicating she could step away after the upcoming US Open
Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes of all time and a 23-time grand slam singles champion, has announced that she is retiring from professional tennis and fans have started wondering what’s next for her. In a column for Vogue, the 40-year-old Williams described her intention to finish her playing career as an “evolution” away from tennis. Serena is presently playing at the Canadian Open as a part of preparations for the US Open starting later in August.
Serena has spent much of the past few years off the court preparing for the moment she decided to move on, including by setting up a venture capitalist company, Serena Ventures, and investing in various organizations. However, she explained that one of her biggest reasons for retirement is her intention to further expand her family. Williams gave birth to her first child, Alexis Olympia, in 2017.
“I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family. I don’t think it’s fair. 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”, stated Serena.
Serena is the founder of Serena Ventures, which raised $111 million in an inaugural funding round earlier this year. The venture capital firm focuses on startups with underrepresented founders (which make up 76% of its portfolio), including women, Latinos, African Americans, and other underrepresented groups.
Since she began getting involved with startups in 2014, Williams has been an angel investor in 45 companies, including Clubhouse, Impossible Foods, and Masterclass. And the first funding round at Serena Ventures covered 22 startups, including Chatdesk, recipe marketplace Foody, and virtual premarital counseling service Ours.
She also sits on the board of directors of SurveyMonkey (since 2017) and, until four months ago, was a board member with Poshmark. She’s a board advisor to blockchain-based fantasy soccer game Sorare, which coincides with her interest in cryptocurrencies.
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