Serena Williams has sparked excitement among tennis fans over a potential tennis comeback. The sporting icon ‘evolved’ away from the game following her third-round exit at the US Open last month.
The 41-year-old sobbed as she gave her final post-match interview as a professional player and an emotional New York crowd gave her a deserved fond farewell. But less than two months after bowing out of tennis, the 23-time Grand Slam champion suggested the chances of her returning to the game are ‘very high’.
“I am not retired,” Williams said at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. “The chances [of me returning] are very high. You can come to my house and [see] I have a court. I started this company a while ago, so I just jumped right into that,” Williams said. “I didn’t even think about the whole retirement. I still haven’t really thought about it.
“But I did go on the court the other day and [realised] for the first time in my life that I’m not playing for a competition and that felt very weird. It was like the first day of the rest of my life, and so far, I am enjoying it. But I’m still trying to find that balance.”
Williams hinted she may put off a move akin to fellow sporting great Tom Brady, who reversed his decision to retire after just 40 days.
“I mean, you never know. I’ve just been saying that Tom Brady started a really cool trend...” the seven-time Wimbledon champion said during an appearance on Good Morning America. After her retirement, Williams shared: “I always did love Australia, though,” potentially leaving the door open for an appearance in Melbourne next year.
Williams, mother to five-year-old Olympia, explained one of her reasons for choosing to stop playing was to further support and expand her family with husband Alexis. “I just needed to stop,” she said in the 'History Talks' interview, as quoted by Vanity Fair .
“I always said I wanted to stop when I’m playing really good tennis and winning and beating good players. For me, it’s really about things I want to do spiritually and spending time with my daughter and family.
"As a super hands-on mom, I can’t tell you how hard it was. I lost so many matches after I had Olympia because it was so hard to be on the court.
"I feel like I’ve given so much of my life to tennis, my entire life, that it’s time to do something different for me and also work on other things. When you’re on the inside, you can’t see it. It’s completely different when you’re involved."
