Even the GOAT needs a break. Serena Williams has thought about when she will walk away from her tennis career.
“I am prepared for that day, I’ve been prepared for that day for over a decade,” the 40-year-old athlete told Entertainment Tonight of her potential retirement during an interview published on Tuesday, February. 8. “I’ve always — if you’ve seen [the biopic] King Richard — you know that my dad always said you got to prepare, so I’ve been prepared for that. You know, at the end of the day, I think it’s really important to always have a plan and that’s kind of what I did. I always had a plan.”
Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals and broken countless barriers since the beginning of her professional sports career. Off the court, the Michigan native has founded a successful clothing line, S by Serena, and recently signed a first-look deal with Amazon Studios.
Between business ventures, tennis training and parenting 4-year-old daughter Olympia, Williams is still trying to master the “balancing act.”
She told ET: “Some days it’s harder than the others … because I’m still a mom and I’m still a wife and I’m still, you know, I want to be able to spend time and I like to be good at things. I want to be the best mom, you know, and I just have a wonderful team around me. … There are days that are overwhelming … but I’m just like, ‘OK, I just got to like, figure it out and just make it work.'”
The entrepreneur shares her little girl with husband Alexis Ohanian, whom she wed in November 2017 in New Orleans. Williams is “definitely” interested in expanding her family further when the time is right.
“It’s just like, balance is key, you know, and just trying to find that balance [is hard],” she told the outlet. “I don’t know, it’s always like, ‘OK, are we ready?’ And I know the clock is ticking so I’m just like, ‘OK, I need to figure out when that’s going to be,’ but hopefully soon when I will feel no pressure.”
Ohanian, for his part, is proud to support his wife no matter where her future takes her. The 38-year-old Reddit cofounder teased in April 2021 that his favorite job is being Williams’ No. 1 fan.
“I love how you don’t mind that they call you Serena Williams’ husband,” a fan tweeted at the time, to which the tech investor replied, “I’ll be a self-made billionaire one day and most people will still know me as Serena’s husband (or Olympia’s dad) and that’s fine by me.”
One month prior, the former Sportsperson of the Year gushed over the security she’s felt throughout her relationship.
“Marriage is not bliss,” Williams said during a March 2021 Q&A for Bumble’s The Question Game. “But it can be if you work at it. … I learned that love is an amazing feeling. And if you have an opportunity to feel it, then it’s a special thing.”