Serena Williams Complains About Retiring To ‘Expand Family’

Serena Williams will leave professional tennis at the end of the U.S. Open. This will conclude what will surely be the greatest ever female tennis career. While any successful athlete always gets nostalgic regarding their career coming to a close, Williams is grousing about the decision because she thinks she wouldn’t have to if her gender were different.

In a lengthy article published in Vogue in which Williams articulated her thoughts about retiring, the all-time great complained that her desire to start a family meant that tennis had to go by the wayside, a reality she believes would not exist if she were a man.

“Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family,” she said. “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.”

If this is the the lens through which Williams views her career change, there’s a lot wrong with it.

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The first is that she hasn’t chosen between tennis and her family for at least for the past five years. After having her daughter Olympia in 2017, she needed to adjust to the new normal. However, her performance was still unsurpassed. There was no “sacrifice one for the other” choice, she had her cake and ate it too for a time.

Life is about compromises. Williams has to do her part if she wants to have children.

Sure, winning (as of right now) 23 Grand Slam singles titles along with 14 major championships in the doubles division, four Olympic gold medals and a slew of other trophies is great, and nobody can take them away from her. She will be proud to share her achievements with Olympia and the other children Serena invites into the world. It will not matter to their lives if Serana, her husband Alexis, are present. It is a more noble calling that athletics cannot give, so it should not be taken lightly.

As Williams begins a new chapter in her life, I wish she has the same drive and determination that helped her become a great athlete. She sees it as an opportunity to mourn, but tennis is clearly still very important to him.