Serena Williams is stepping away from the game of tennis.
The most accomplished American to ever go professional in this sport is saying goodbye to the game she mastered and loved since she was a young girl in Saginaw, Michigan.
In a piece she wrote for Vogue, Serena explains that her decision is based on the next chapter of her life, a chapter that involves things that are more important for her life going forward, according to the tennis legend.
"I'm here to tell you that I'm evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me," she wrote in her piece. "But I've been reluctant to admit to myself or anyone else that I have to move on from playing tennis."
It's been a long journey for Serena's professional career, but her hard-work throughout the years has provided an incredible winning record on a domestic and most importantly, the International stage against some of the best in her sport.
Serena holds the join-record of 186 consecutive weeks being ranked #1, and will forever be known as winning the Australian Open while being eight months pregnant.
The Michigan-native says she wouldn't have gotten to where she is today without the support of her sister, Venus, who shaped her to become the competitive athlete she evolved into.
"If I hadn't been in Venus's shadow, I would never be who I am. When someone said I was just the little sister, that’s when I got really fired up," Williams wrote. "To me that's kind of the essence of being Serena: expecting the best from myself and proving people wrong. There were so many matches I won because something made me angry or someone counted me out. That drove me. I've built a career on channeling anger and negativity and turning it into something good."
Williams also credits her parents for supporting her in the pursuit of her dreams, and for the discipline and ambition they pushed into her life as a young girl growing up.
“I got pushed hard by my parents,” Serena Williams wrote in her retirement piece. “Nowadays so many parents say, ‘Let your kids do what they want!’ Well, that’s not what got me where I am. I didn’t rebel as a kid. I worked hard, and I followed the rules.”
Serena Williams and husband Alexis Ohanian announce they are planning to have a second child as she enters retirement.
