After an incredible tennis career, Serena Williams is hanging it up. What will the tennis legend do next?
Serena Williams is saying goodbye to tennis at the age of 40 after an illustrious 27-year career. The tennis legend helped popularize the women’s game and is one of the most accomplished players in all of pro tennis.
She’ll leave as a four-time Olympic gold medalist, a 23-time Grand Slam winner, and flirted with Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam titles.
Most important, though, Williams has sparked inspiration for several groups of people. Black athletes, female athletes, and anyone from anywhere who faces obstacles. Just about anyone can look to the story of Serena and find inspiration and motivation.
Williams will close the book on her illustrious tennis career after this year’s US Open, but life doesn’t end there. She predicted the next chapter of her life will still be, “crazy and intense.” What will Williams do after her playing career? Here’s what’s currently in her plans.
Serena Williams will continue leading investment firm, Serena Ventures
Serena Williams, like many other premier modern athletes, has used her earnings to parlay investments under her venture capital firm, Serena Ventures, expanding her net worth to above a quarter of a billion dollars, per Forbes. Her investment firm was founded in 2014 and focuses on empowering businesses and innovations that are owned by women and people of color.
Her firm’s investments include jumps into the NFT space, companies trying to disrupt the home culinary market, and a tailored hair company focused on expansive options for women of color.
Earlier this year the firm announced they had raised $111MM to infuse their next investments.
Serena Williams will commit to personal life, motherhood, and spirituality
Beyond her venture capital career, Williams is going to spend some time doing the things she may not have had time for while managing her athletic career. Among those priorities are her spirituality and relationship with her family.
Williams birthed Olympia Williams in 2017, and is looking forward to spending more time and energy on being a mother. She told TIME Magazine that Olympia is excited her mother is retiring:
“Olympia doesn’t like when I play tennis,” Serena Williams says plainly about her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. When Williams told Olympia, who turns 5 on Sept. 1, that she was soon to be done with the life that made her an inspiration to millions, Olympia’s reply was as joyful as her mother’s celebrations after so many Grand Slam wins: a fist-pumping “Yes!”
Williams would proceed to tell TIME that Olympia desperately wants to be a big sister, and though she didn’t explicitly say another child would be in the works, Williams gives the impression that growing her family with husband Alexis Ohanian would fit her roadmap.
Williams is also a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, something she has cited occasionally after major wins. According to the Washington Post, this has been a tension-creating aspect of her character since the faith discourages participation in competitive sports, “on the grounds that it promotes nationalism, violence and celebrity — all things Witnesses are supposed to avoid.” Separating herself from the day-to-day limelight will help close the gap on her faith and her profession.
We still have more time to enjoy Williams’ career. She plays in Round 2 of the US Open on Wednesday night and will participate in the doubles tournament with her sister, Venus. But soon, her attention will shift.
If Round 2 is anything like the spectacle that the opening round was, you won’t want to miss it.
